The Procreation Proposal
by Musickat18
Summary: It was to Amy's great surprise that Sheldon turned to her, in the middle of a documentary on model train collectors, to state that he wished to discuss the possibility of procreation. Sequel number 2, of sorts, to the Relationship Evolution.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. They belong to the creators of _The Big Bang Theory._  
**

**A/N: So...yet another plot bunny that was hopping around so vigorously, I was worried my brain would become addled. This, I believe, was actually the result of a request from a reader. I had no intention of writing a baby fic, but yet, the thought took root. Thanks for that. :P I'm entirely uncertain how long it will be between updating, as I'm still in the middle of my other multi-chapter fic. Also, the required reading for this fic is The Relationship Evolution. And also, I suppose not entirely necessary, but highly recommended, would be the Nuptial Endeavor. This fic starts 3 years after the Nuptial Endeavor, but still takes place in between the end of The Relationship Evolution and it's epilogue. But enough jibber jabber from me. Let's get to reading, shall we? :)**

**Amy**

Amy looked over at Sheldon, who was looking as anxious as she was. She grabbed his hand, looking to not only give reassurance, but receive it. He looked over at her, squeezing her hand in response. They were both standing in the bathroom, alternately staring at the ten sticks lined up on the sink, and at each other.

* * *

It had been approximately five weeks ago when Sheldon had suddenly turned to Amy and said, "Amy, I have a matter I wish to discuss with you."

They had been watching a particularly riveting documentary on model train collectors, so naturally, Amy had been shocked that Sheldon had chosen that particular moment to speak with her.

She had frowned at him in confusion. "Now?"

He had nodded. "Yes."

"But…what about the documentary?"

Sheldon had looked at the television for a moment, before taking a deep breath, looking upwards, and then looking back at Amy. "While I do not wish to miss any part of this particular documentary," he had started, "I find that I am unable to concentrate, and that my time would be better spent discussing the matter with you, rather than feigning enjoyment for a documentary that, quite frankly, I stopped really watching about twenty minutes ago."

Amy had stared at Sheldon for several seconds, suddenly worried what subject could induce her husband to ignore a documentary having anything to do with model trains. In the three years they had been married, the only thing that Amy had seen Sheldon truly distracted by had been his work.

"Ok…" she had replied.

Rather than begin speaking, Sheldon had grabbed her hand and had begun absentmindedly rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. The action had only caused Amy further alarm, since Sheldon rarely, if ever, was at a loss for words when there was a subject he wished to speak with her about.

She had put her hand on top of his, had cocked her head to the side, and had asked, "Is everything alright? You're not dying are you?"

Sheldon had looked up at her, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. It had been a look that so few people had the pleasure of seeing; a look which he usually kept only for her. She had started to feel better even before Sheldon had replied with, "No. There is nothing terrible happening."

She had frowned in confusion. "Then what is it you wish to speak to me about."

Sheldon had looked at her in the eye, before taking a deep breath, and saying, "I would like to discuss the possibility of us…procreating."

Amy had been taken aback at first, but after a few moments of fast thinking, she had realized that Sheldon's request wasn't so out of the blue. They had recently had several encounters with multiple peers and their small progenies.

For example, Sheldon had come home one day to state that Barry Kripke had brought his three month old daughter to work, in order to show her off; a thing about which Amy had expected Sheldon to rage. Instead, he had merely commented on the genetic lottery which Kripke's young daughter seemed to have won, stating that she resembled her father very little.

Then there had been, of course, Leonard and Penny's eighteen month old daughter, whom Sheldon and Amy had frequent contact with, as Leonard and Penny enjoyed coming over to their apartment. Penny had once stated that no matter where she and Leonard had moved, 2311 Los Robles always felt more like home.

And then, of course, most recently, there had been the visit from Sheldon's elder brother, George, with his wife and two children. Amy had been a little startled to witness just how much Sheldon had enjoyed playing with the children. Leonard had once told her about a trip to the bookstore, in which Sheldon had become fast friends with a little girl, but Amy had largely forgotten about that…that is, until she had seen Sheldon eagerly agree to read _Stu the Cockatoo Is New At The Zoo_ to their niece after she pulled it off the shelf.

After remembering all of those instances, in the few moments in which she had paused, Amy had turned to Sheldon and said, "Really?"

He had nodded. "Yes."

"Does this have to do with your sudden attachment to our niece?"

Sheldon had blinked at her for several moments before responding with. "While Rebekah's engaging nature certainly brought the issue to the forefront of my mind, I must confess to pondering the issue for quite some time."

Amy had been taken aback. Usually she could tell when Sheldon was mulling a thought over, be it in relation to his profession, or their personal life. She had found it very unusual that he should have been thinking about an issue for so long without her realizing it. Perhaps she had not understood her husband's inner workings so well as she had assumed.

"How long have you been pondering this?"

"If I'm to be honest, a couple of years."

"A couple of _years?_" Amy had been completely flabbergasted. "What made you begin your pondering? Why did you take so long to ponder? And…" truth be told, she had been a little hurt, "why did you wait so long to discuss it with me?"

Amy had looked down at her lap as she asked the last question, and had pulled her hands away from Sheldon's, suddenly feeling strangely vulnerable.

Sheldon had cleared his throat, and started with, "In answer to your first question, my pondering started after a comment from Leonard. He had been narcissistically rambling about all the difficulties he had been going through during the period of time in which Penny was pregnant. To be frank, it sounded like a nightmare. He had gone on and on about mood swings, strange food cravings, driving to 7-11 in the middle of the night for a cherry slushie. It was enough to make me wish never to have to go through such a thing. But at the end of it all, he had made the strangest comment."

Sheldon paused, causing Amy to look up, a little startled to find that when she did so, he was looking right at her. He looked away, and continued. "He had said that all of the hassle had only made him love Penny more. When I asked him about the dichotomy of his statement, he had responded by saying that no matter what the hassle, he and Penny had created a human being, with great potential to be both attractive and intelligent, and that the prospect had caused him to feel happier than he ever remembered being."

Sheldon had looked back at Amy, who had been, at that point, riveted. "Of course, at the time, his statement made very little sense to me, and I attempted to forget about it. But I found, as time passed, that I would recall the conversation at the oddest times, and would end up contemplating parenthood. For example, one time, I was pondering the concept that the scattering of two particles determines the scattering of three or more particles, when suddenly I found myself imagining the original two particles as the parents of the three or more particles, with the genetic materials of the parental particles genetically determining where the progeny particles were scattered."

Amy had stifled a smile. She loved her husband's mind. Even in the midst of feeling hurt by his apparent resistance to include her in his pondering, she had been in awe of his imagination.

"As for why I spent so long pondering," Sheldon continued, "there were simply so many things to consider. It took me a little over three months to finally realize that I might not be opposed to the idea. I know that you and I had discussed the issue of procreation within the first few months of meeting, but obviously many things had changed since that time, and I had found myself not wishing to deal with the unsanitary mess that a child is, among other things."

Amy had frowned, suddenly curious. "What other things?"

"Well, for one thing, a child would mean less time for recreational activities."

Any had nodded, thoughtfully. "That is very true. What else?"

"I also considered the effect that children have on a schedule."

"Hmm," Amy had said. "Yes, I can see how that would cause you some concern. And were there any other reasons?"

Sheldon had cleared his throat. "As a matter of fact, yes. I was also reluctant to give up my time with you."

Amy had blinked at him, suddenly touched, and had grabbed his hand again, smiling at him, before frowning once again in confusion. "And it took you nearly two years to ponder all of those things?"

Sheldon had looked at Amy a moment, before responding with, "Not entirely."

"Then what took you so long?"

"I…was reluctant to bring up the subject with you."

Amy had frowned, feeling hurt again. "Why?"

"I was unsure how you would respond."

Amy had blinked at him, not fully understanding. "What sort of a response did you anticipate?"

Sheldon had cocked his head to the side. "I…was worried that you would feel obligated to say yes."

"I'm not sure I follow."

Sheldon had taken a deep breath. "This brings me to the answer to your third question...I realize that it is considered natural for the female of a species to entertain a desire for children; in fact I believe it is a prudent evolutionary driver which would ensure the continuation of a species." Sheldon had paused, and Amy had simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

He had cleared his throat before saying, "But I also realize that we are now living in an era where intelligence is not considered limited to the male of the species, and that, in fact, a great deal of the potential for scientific discovery lies in the experiments currently being conducted by female scientists…including one Dr. Amy Cooper."

He had looked at Amy then, who had been smiling at the rare Sheldon Cooper compliment she had just received.

"To speak frankly, and without the intent of sounding blatantly sexist, I grew up with a mother who did not work, but who chose the life of a mother caring for her children. It is not my wish to rely on others, who, quite frankly, would be ill equipped to deal with the many educational and emotional needs of small Homo Novi, to care for any children which we may produce. But, as I believe we can both agree, you are currently residing at the near top of your field of study, and have recently enjoyed being highly sought after as a senior researcher for a variety of lucrative studies, all as a direct result of years of hard work and dedication to your field."

He had paused, looking at Amy directly. "I did not wish to ask you to put your career on hold for an indefinite amount of time, when you have are on the cusp of becoming one of the most highly regarded neurobiologists in the country, and quite possibly, the world."

Amy had been, to speak figuratively, quite blown away by Sheldon's admission. Of course she had known that he supported her, but he had never had any qualms about what voicing his opinion of the field of biology. She had never presumed to believe that he would put off asking her to consider children because he did not wish to interrupt her career.

When she had sufficiently recovered from her shock, she had cocked her head to the side and asked, "So what has changed your mind? Why are you asking now?"

Sheldon had again cleared his throat. "If you are amenable to discussing the possibility of childbearing, I believe I may have a compromise which would allow us to raise our child, or children, with the proper amount of emotional and educational care, while also ensuring that neither of us forego our careers."

"I'm quite intrigued. What do you propose?"

"If we look at a work week, there are five days in which work should be completed. However, there are seven days which comprise an entire week. Also, my work is theoretical, and can be completed, theoretically, at any point during the day. I propose that we ask our respective employers for an altered work week. As your job requires you to be present to conduct the experiments, I propose you request three days during the week to work, for example Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I will request going in to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a couple of hours of additional work completed in the evenings after you have returned home, as well as the occasional weekend, should the work necessitate it. It is also possible, should your employers wish for you to spend more time at work, for you to work ten or twelve hours on those days which you do go in…although I would prefer that you maintain a typical eight hour day, and might request that you not bring it up unless, or until, your employer discusses the hazards of your having a shortened work week."

Amy had thought for a moment about the proposal, and found herself impressed. She had quickly leaned forward and kissed Sheldon, before sitting back, smiling, and replying with, "You really do think of everything. I'm very touched that you feel so strongly about preserving my career that you would be willing to limit the amount of time you spend on your own. This is especially touching, when I consider how strong your desire for a Nobel Prize is…are you sure you're willing to make the sacrifice?"

"It's really not such a sacrifice. I am willing to believe that, should I keep a white board at home, I will be occasionally able to stare at it, perhaps during nap times, and thus complete work even on my off days. I do not anticipate a shortened work week impacting my likelihood of receiving a Nobel Prize in my future."

Amy had thought for a moment, before frowning and saying, "I still find myself wishing you had not waited so long to discuss the issue with me. As your wife, and aforementioned scientist, I should think I have earned enough of your respect to warrant being included in the search for a solution to such a quandary."

Sheldon had blinked at her for several moments before finally clearing his throat and saying, "I apologize."

"You're forgiven."

"Now, if I may ask, what are your thoughts on the subject of procreation."

Amy's thoughts had turned to the subject, and she had taken her time pondering it. In truth, she had wondered at the possibility of children with Sheldon on multiple occasions, but such thoughts had usually been fleeting. She had thought back to the time when Mary had insisted on showing Amy childhood pictures of Sheldon. He had been quite an adorable child, as far as Amy was concerned. As she had continued pondering, an image of a small blonde child with startling blue eyes following his father around, dressed in a red Flash t-shirt, had popped into her head, and she had found herself smiling.

"I believe I would enjoy bearing your children."

Sheldon had raised his eyebrows. "Are you quite sure? Please think it through carefully. There is a great deal of stress, pain, and selflessness involved. Regardless of the fact that we will ensure the continuation of your career, you will still have to carry the child…unless of course you'd be more amenable to finding a surrogate."

Amy had pondered the possibility of a surrogate, but found that she, surprisingly, would prefer to carry their progeny herself. "I'm quite sure."

Sheldon's countenance had immediately changed. His face had been lit up by a smile, and he had grabbed her in a hug, something which, even after five years of marriage, he rarely ever did.

"Then we are agreed?" Sheldon had asked.

Amy had smiled and nodded. "We're agreed. We are going to procreate."

* * *

"Amy."

She looked up at Sheldon, her heart racing. She wasn't entirely sure why she was so nervous about the results of her multiple pregnancy tests, as it was their first attempt. She realized that it usually took multiple attempts, and sometimes up to a year, for a woman to become pregnant, but she couldn't seem to dispel the hope that they had succeeded.

"Yes?"

"The allotted three minutes has passed."

Amy didn't respond, other than to widen her eyes. They both looked over at the sink again, and then Amy looked back up at Sheldon.

"Shall we both look at the same time?"

Sheldon looked down at her, swallowed, and nodded.

Still gripping hands, they had taken several steps forward towards the sink, both looking at the other through the mirror. When they reached the sink, Amy squeezed Sheldon's hand, and they both looked down.

Amy blinked for several moments, unable to process the information in front of her. She looked over at Sheldon, who also appeared to be having a difficult time processing, and then back down again.

It simply did not seem possible that she should be staring at ten little plus signs.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. I'm going to take this moment to proclaim that physics has always been beyond my understanding...I googled "Current Physics Research" to get that little bit about the particles, sooo, if you're a physicist...feel free to laugh. :) Reviews are greatly appreciated and really motivate me to write. So, for those that bless me with a review...thanks. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to chapter 2! A quick continuity update. I realized belatedly, that there was some bubbly math going on with having the story be 5 years into their marriage and yet before the epilogue in TREv. So, in case you didn't go back to read, this story is 3 years into their marriage, and the age of Lenny's child is 18 months instead of 22. :) Ok, so now to the story. :)**

**Sheldon**

Sheldon stared at the sink in front of him. He was having a difficult time processing the information in front of him, and the resultant blend of strong emotions wasn't helping him to clarify it, either.

Even after three years of marriage, in which he rather frequently found himself thinking of how much he loved his wife, Sheldon was not used to, (nor ever cared to) examining his feelings. In general it was not worth his time and, even when he did take the time, he rarely liked the results.

In the moment immediately following his looking down to see ten plus signs staring him in the face, the first emotion Sheldon identified was shock. While he had had great faith in the superiority of his sperm (being the Homo novus that he is), he was still finding it extraordinary that so soon upon deciding to be parents, Amy had become pregnant. All of the research he had done, prior to even bringing the subject up with Amy, had indicated that it was normal to fail several times before succeeding. Then again, the "accidental pregnancy" rate seemed to be fairly high…if movies and television were to be believed, that is.

Shortly following his shock was an emotion which he normally only felt in the moments after a breakthrough at work, or when he was about to start reading a new Flash comic book: Excitement. He had succeeded. He and Amy were going to be parents!

But at that thought, Sheldon felt a third, more familiar, emotion arise: fear. He and Amy were going to be parents! His entire life was about to change…had _already_ changed. There was no going back. No changing their mind. They were going to have a crying, needy infant, leaking from both ends, taking up all of their time. He wasn't going to be able to participate in things like Halo Night, New Comic Book Night, or (gasp!) Sunday morning Paintballing!

Sheldon felt his respiratory level increase. What on earth had they gotten themselves in to? They had been watching Leonard and Penny attempt to deal with raising a child for an entire eighteen months. He and Amy had been witness to the times when Julia (a sensible name, even if Penny insisted she was named for her favorite actress, Julia Roberts) had thrown her food, and indeed herself, on the floor; had been witness to the ungodly amounts of feces which the child was able to produce; had been witness to the bickering which arose between Leonard and Penny when they disagreed about the disciplinary actions which should be taken (Penny, having been raised with such, was a believer in corporal punishment when needed, whereas Leonard preferred a more logic and reasoning based approach). Children were messy; they were riddled with germs. Dear lord!

Sheldon looked down at Amy. She looked up at him with an initially blank expression. But after a moment her face broke out in such an enormous smile that Sheldon felt his fear decreasing, and his excitement returning.

Quite suddenly, Amy launched herself forward at Sheldon, wrapping both arms around his neck, kissing him quickly on the mouth, and laying her head on his shoulder. The force with which she did these things nearly caused Sheldon to fall over backwards into the bathtub. Despite their many lessons, it would seem Amy still had much to learn about Kolinahr.

"We're going to be parents, Sheldon," Amy said, speaking into his neck. Sheldon wrapped his arms around Amy, smiling.

"So it would seem."

When Amy drew back, Sheldon looked down at her and said, "Right. Now that that's cleared up, we have many things to discuss. But first things first." He pulled out a pair of latex gloves, putting them on, and then reached for the pregnancy tests on the sink.

"Wait!" Amy exclaimed. Sheldon looked back at her, surprised. "I want to get a picture of them."

Sheldon frowned. "You what? To what end?"

"Sheldon. We're going to document every moment of this baby's life, starting with the moment we found out to expect him or her."

Sheldon straightened up. "Alright, then. Take the picture."

He made to step away, but Amy held up a hand. "Actually, I'd like for you to be in the picture." Sheldon blinked at her in response, watching as she whipped out her phone to take the picture.

Amy motioned for Sheldon to move closer to the sink. "Lean down and look excited…maybe you could point."

Sheldon gave Amy a skeptical look. She put down the phone, and gave him a look in return. "Sheldon, don't you want to be on record as present and excited about the impending birth of our child?"

Sheldon sighed. This was a bit much, but then, he supposed it wasn't every day you found out you were going to become a parent. He could give in to Amy's demands…and in fact, he might have to start doing that even more frequently…but he would think about that later. For now, he bent down, pointed with his gloved hand, and thought about his future, second generation Homo novus.

After Amy snapped no less than five pictures, he again made to pick up the sticks. And again Amy exclaimed, "Wait!"

Sheldon straightened up again. "Amy, I believe five pictures is more than sufficient."

Amy shook her head, pulling a small camcorder out of her pocket. "Now we need video."

Sheldon gave Amy a look of amusement when she turned the camcorder on herself and started with, "The birth of Baby Cooper, scene one. Hello cherished child, this is your mother, Amy Farrah Cooper, recording the moment, or close enough to it, in which your father and I found out to expect you."

Amy turned the camera towards, Sheldon. "Sheldon, say hello to your child."

Sheldon cleared his throat, gave a slight wave at the camera and said, "Hello future progeny."

Amy put down the camera. "That's how you're greeting our child?"

Sheldon frowned. "What was wrong with how I greeted him or her?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Sheldon, this is our child, not some generic future generation. You'll notice that I referred to him or her as a 'cherished child'. You should do something similar."

Sheldon sighed. "Very well." He gestured for Amy to begin recording again. She pointed the camera at him, said, "Take two," and then motioned for Sheldon to start. He put on his koala face and said, "Hello, future benign overlord…"

Amy put the camera down again. "Sheldon…"

Sheldon held up a hand. "Just let me finish, Amy."

Amy sighed and held the camera back up. "Take three." She pointed at him to begin.

Sheldon cleared his throat again, putting his koala face back on, and started again. "Hello, future benign overlord. It is I, Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper, your proud and…loving father."

Amy gave him a thumbs up and then gestured for him to continue. Sheldon gestured towards the sink, "As you can see…" Amy quickly walked over and pointed the camera down at the sink, "there is the first proof of your existence."

Amy turned the camera up to Sheldon. "Sheldon Cooper, you just learned that you will be a father. What were your first thoughts?"

Sheldon blinked at the camera for a moment, recalling what had gone on in his head. "My first thought was blatant shock that we should have succeeded so quickly."

Amy turned the camera towards herself. "Let the record reflect, little one, that your mother, Amy Farrah Cooper, had the same thought. Proof positive that when you watch this, your parents will still be happily married, and will not be on their way towards a divorce."

"Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed. "I don't think it is a good idea to implant the idea in our child's mind that we could potentially become divorced."

Amy put the camera down. "I wasn't implanting it, I was refuting it. I clearly stated that we would be happily married."

"I don't think the term 'divorce' needs to be anywhere in your statement."

Amy rolled her eyes, and said, "Fine."

She pointed the camera back at herself. "Take two. Let the record reflect, dear child, that your mother, Amy Farrah Cooper, had the same thought. This is proof positive that your parents are a perfect match for each other."

Amy put down the camera, raising her eyebrows at Sheldon. "Was that more to your liking?"

Sheldon shrugged. "It was a little overly sentimental, but not the least bit scarring."

"Ok, then. Let's move on." She again pointed the camera at Sheldon. "So, Sheldon Cooper, after your initial shock, what were your next thoughts?"

"I immediately became excited, quickly followed by fear of the havoc which will be wreaked on our life."

Amy put the camera back down, giving Sheldon a look which he could only describe as incredulous. "I'm not allowed to talk about NOT getting divorced, but you believe it is ok to tell our child that you were worried about the havoc they'll wreak on our life?"

Sheldon thought a moment. "Hmm…fair point. What shall I say then? You know I can't and won't lie and that was my honest next thought…"

"How about you just stop at the excitement?"

Sheldon nodded and gestured again for Amy to continue. She held up the camera, yet again. "Take two. So, Sheldon Cooper, after your initial shock, what were your next thoughts?"

Sheldon cleared his throat. "Once the initial shock wore off, I found myself excited by the prospect of becoming a parent."

Amy again turned the camera towards herself. "As did I, you delightful child."

She turned the camera towards Sheldon. "Now that you are going to become a parent, what is the first thing you will be doing to celebrate?"

"The first thing I'm going to do, is draw up a list of items which need to be purchased, create a spreadsheet with which to mark Amy's bowel movements, as it is my understanding that constipation is a common pregnancy issue, and rush to the store to purchase a nine month supply of prenatal vitamins. Additionally, your mother and I will draw up an appropriate pregnancy diet to ensure maximum efficiency in your growth, and, of course, make your first doctor's appointment."

Amy turned the camera towards herself. "Do you remember this moment, adorable one? It might have felt like an earthquake to you as you were making your way down my fallopian tube. In case you recall your alarm, let me assure it that it was nothing more than my uterus quivering."

Amy turned the camera off, smiling broadly at Sheldon (something which still had the ability to cause his stomach to perform acrobatics), and said, "Well, get to it, Dr. Cooper. It's disgusting to keep those pee covered pregnancy test sticks on our sink."

At that friendly reminder, Sheldon quickly grabbed off all the sticks, throwing them in the waste basket, and then spraying the sink with antibacterial cleaner. Immediately after taking off his gloves and throwing them in the waste paper basket, Amy grabbed his hand and pulled him into their living room.

After Sheldon sat in his spot, Amy curled up next to him, wrapping her arms around his torso and putting her head on his chest. In turn he wrapped his arms around her, settling into the cuddle.

Amy turned her head up towards him. "I can't quite believe we are going to be parents."

Sheldon blinked at her. "Neither can I…of course, no one is more qualified than you and I to raise the next generation of scientists and/or leaders of the free world, but still…it is a little unbelievable." He frowned, feeling his earlier fear return. "But what if our lives become worse instead of better?"

Amy looked confused. "How could any child of ours make our lives worse?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Leonard and Penny argue quite frequently…and many previously happy couples end up divorced after they have children…it's only natural to presume that the reason is due to the added stress which children add to a romantic relationship."

Amy unwrapped herself from Sheldon, sitting up to look at him. "Sheldon, it's only natural to wonder and worry about the changes a child will bring, but I hardly think it likely that it would drive us to the point of divorce."

Sheldon looked at Amy in horror. "I don't think that we would ever get to the point of divorce. Why would you say such a thing?"

Amy frowned. "You said that many couples end up divorced after having children."

"Amy! I was making a generalized statement about couples. Surely you're not suggesting that we would ever fall victim to the same petty arguments as other couples!"

Amy put a hand on Sheldon's arm. "Sheldon, calm down. I was doing no such thing, and I apologize for alarming you. I merely misunderstood your point. To circle back around, I don't believe that our child will add a strain to our relationship. I believe our child will _add_ value to our lives rather than detract from it."

"But what makes you think so?"

Amy leaned forward to kiss Sheldon. When she pulled back, she smiled and said, "Because the child will be ours, of course, and, as both you and I know, we're superior beings. How could our child be anything but a wonderful addition to our family, and society in general?"

Sheldon smiled back at Amy, saying "Of course. You make a very good case for our child, Mrs. Cooper." Then he wrapped both of his arms around Amy and began kissing her back.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Amy**

Amy looked around the room at all of their friends just as Sheldon stood up, clearing his throat.

"Everyone, may I please have your attention?"

Everyone stopped their chatting and looked over at Sheldon.

"I would like to take this moment to inform you that Amy is expecting."

Penny squealed. "Oh my god, Amy!"

Nearly tripping over her own child playing on the floor, Penny rushed over to give Amy a hug. "This is so exciting! Was it planned? What am I talking about, of course it was planned! I mean we're talking about you and Sheldon here." Penny looked over at Sheldon with a huge smile. He managed to give Penny a small smile in return.

"Penny." Penny looked over at Leonard. "I think the rest of us would like a chance to congratulate the couple."

Penny looked back at Amy, on who's lap she was nearly sitting, cleared her throat, and got up.

"Right. Of course." Penny stood up, and then smiled at Sheldon. "I can't believe you're going to be a dad!"

Much to Amy's amusement, Penny then grabbed Sheldon in an impromptu hug. Sheldon rolled his eyes as Amy smiled at him.

"Penny. Could you please contain yourself?"

Penny pulled away. "Right. Sorry. I'm just so excited!"

Leonard reached up to grab Penny's hand, pulling her down on his lap as Bernadette came over to give Amy a hug as well.

"Congratulations Amy."

"Yeah, congratulations, Amy," said both Raj and Howard.

Raj's new girlfriend (the result of Amy's help in resolving Raj's selective mutism), Rani, came over to give Amy a hug as well. "Congratulations, Amy."

Sheldon looked around the room with a frown on his face. "Excuse me, but I believe Amy is not the only one in need of congratulations."

Leonard scooted Penny onto the chair and stood up, lightly patting Sheldon on the arm. "You're absolutely right, Sheldon. Congratulations."

Sheldon smiled at Leonard. "Thank you, Leonard." Then he trained a look on the rest of the group.

"Congratulations, Sheldon," they all said at once.

Sheldon nodded and then sat back down. Amy loved it when Sheldon asserted himself. She smiled over at him. Since finding out that she was pregnant, Amy had found herself unable to stop smiling. It was getting a bit ridiculous.

Granted it had only been six hours…but still.

"When did you guys find out?" Penny asked, taking a sip of her water bottle.

"Just this morning," Amy replied.

"And how'd you talk Sheldon into having kids?"

"Penny…" Leonard gave Penny a look.

"What? It's a valid question."

Amy smiled at Sheldon as she responded. "Actually, it was entirely Sheldon's idea."

Everyone in the group stared; even Rani, who had only known Sheldon for a couple of weeks.

"I'm sorry…" said Howard, "come again?"

Sheldon looked around the room. "Why is that so surprising?"

"Well…for one thing, you hate change, you hate messes, you hate changing messes…do I really need to go on?"

"Yeah," Raj interjected. "And what about all the germs? Especially if you guys put the kid in daycare…"

Amy looked at Raj. "We're not putting our child in daycare."

"Oh?" Raj raised his eyebrows. Amy looked around and saw that everyone else in the group had similar surprised looks.

"So, how did Sheldon talk you into quitting your job?" asked Howard.

Sheldon and Amy both looked over at Howard. "He didn't. I'm not quitting my job."

Leonard held up a hand. "Wait a minute. _Sheldon_ is going to quit?" He turned to Penny. "Are we on drugs right now? I thought that tea you made tasted funny…"

Sheldon sighed. "I'm not quitting my job. Amy and I agreed to work an altered work week so that we can share the responsibility of childcare. We both agreed that it was the best option…of course, Amy will be getting her allotted three months of maternity leave, during which time I will continue to work a normal work week. However, after that time, we will both be sharing the childcare duties."

Penny let out a snort. Both Sheldon and Amy looked over. "What was that for?"

"I'm sorry…I'm just trying to imagine Sheldon taking care of a kid."

Amy frowned at her bestie. "In my, albeit limited, observations, Sheldon does very well with children. When our niece and nephew were here, Sheldon spent many an evening playing the likes of _Chutes and Ladders_ and _Candyland_. He will be more than capable of taking care of his own children."

Penny looked over. "I'm sorry, Amy. I didn't mean to say I think Sheldon will be a bad dad…I was more trying to picture him changing a diaper."

As that image entered into Amy's mind, she also started giggling. And she wasn't the only one; laughter started erupting all around the room.

Sheldon crossed his arms. "I don't see what's so funny. If I can tackle the mysteries of the universe, then something as simple as changing a diaper should pose no problem for me."

"Riiiiight," said Leonard. "How's your driving coming along?"

Sheldon narrowed his eyes at Leonard. Amy couldn't help but keep giggling. Sheldon had never been able to learn, let alone master, the art of driving. Sheldon looked over at her.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I'm sorry, Sheldon, but you have to admit, the image is a funny one," Amy replied, attempting to stifle her giggles.

Oh dear. It would appear that her inability to stop smiling had turned into an inability to stop laughing.

"I will admit no such thing."

Amy grabbed Sheldon's hand, "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see just how funny it is."

Sheldon rolled his eyes, but didn't remove his hand from Amy's; a good sign that he wasn't really very miffed. Amy leaned her head against Sheldon's shoulder, and then started laughing again when the thought of Sheldon changing a diaper popped back into her head yet again.

* * *

It was several weeks before Amy awoke one morning needing to run straight to the bathroom to vomit.

In the midst of her retching, Sheldon came to stand in the doorway, looking groggy.

"Amy, are you alright?"

Amy attempted to nod, but instead retched again.

"Do you need to be taken to urgent care?"

This time Amy attempted to speak, but again ended up retching. When she finally stopped, Amy flushed the toilet and laid her head on the toilet seat.

"I believe what I am currently experiencing is the onset of…" She started retching again, although by this point it was really only dry heaving.

"…the onset of…" Retch.

"…the onset of…" Retch.

This was ridiculous. None of her research had indicated that morning sickness would be quite so severe.

When she finally stopped retching again, she merely said, "…morning sickness."

Sheldon, who had been wringing his hands, popped open his mouth. "Oh."

Without warning, Sheldon walked quickly away, leaving Amy with nothing but the toilet for her companion. She leaned her head against the toilet seat once again, wrapping her arms around the bowl. She wasn't sure what time it was, but she was seriously considering calling in to work.

After several minutes had passed Sheldon returned, carrying a can of what appeared to be soda and a sleeve of saltine crackers. He held them out to her.

"Try these. My research indicated that this was likely to occur and that it can usually be alleviated by the consumption of a simple carbohydrate, such as saltines, and ginger, such as this ginger ale."

Without lifting her head, Amy reached her hand out. Sheldon, wincing as he did so, knelt down onto the floor of the bathroom, opened the can of ginger ale, and handed it to Amy.

"I believe it would be best to start by taking slow sips of the ginger ale. As you know, ginger has a calming effect on the stomach. After you have consumed half the can, we can try to give you a cracker. In my research, many women found that maintaining a partially full stomach all day, through frequent snacking, also helped to alleviate the problem. If the soda and crackers work, we can start keeping them by your bedside table. I have also read that sometimes vomiting can be avoided by eating a cracker prior to getting out of bed."

Amy gingerly took a small sip of the soda, willing it to stay in her stomach. The thought of trying to eat crackers nearly made Amy retch again, but she managed to stave it off by closing her eyes and taking deep breaths.

Suddenly Amy felt a light patting on her arm.

"There, there…Sheldon's here."

Amy looked over at Sheldon, skeptically. "That's not very comforting…but I appreciate the senti…" Amy felt herself start to gag again, and quickly closed her eyes and breathed deeply again.

"Perhaps this was a bad idea…"

Amy rested her head against the toilet seat again. "Sheldon, I think the time for deciding that this was a bad idea has passed us."

"No…not the pregnancy, the ginger ale and crackers."

Amy raised her head slowly. "No…the ginger ale seems to be helping…I just seem to be having a particularly bad experience." She took another, slightly larger, sip of the ginger ale.

She looked over at Sheldon, who was looking around himself with a worried expression.

"You don't have to sit on the floor with me," Amy said.

Sheldon held his hands to his chest, but replied. "No…it's alright…I haven't yet had my morning shower anyway."

Amy took another drink. "What time is it?"

Sheldon looked at his watch. "5:53."

"Why did I wake up to vomit? I have been working under the assumption that I would only get nauseated when I sat up."

"Quite the contrary," Sheldon said. Amy suspected she was about to listen to a soliloquy. "In fact, the term, 'morning sickness' can be quite misleading. Not every woman experiences nausea and/or vomiting in the morning. Some experience it all day, others only at night, some for only the first three months, and still others for the entirety of their gestation. The degree at which a woman may be sick is also not standardized. Some women may only feel nausea, while others must frequent the emergency room to become rehydrated. I really found the entire thing fascinating."

Amy gave Sheldon a look.

"But that was of course before you started experiencing it…And of course, the unpredictable nature of the so-called beast makes it more difficult to know just how prepared to be. I decided to prepare for the worst however, and thus we have quite a large supply of ginger ale and saltines."

Amy took another sip. She was nearing half the can, and had started to feel normal again. "That's quite fascinating until you're the one going through the worst case scenario."

"I hardly think we can say that you're going through the worst case scenario at this point. We only have this morning to go by. And it appears that while you were initially vomiting quite severely, that it has considerably decreased, or indeed completely dissipated, with the aid of the ginger ale. I'd say, all things considered, that you have a somewhat mild case."

Amy gave Sheldon another look, attempting to convey just what she thought of his statement.

Sheldon cleared his throat. "Then again…I could be…wrong."

"Yes…you could be."

Sheldon cleared his throat again. "Have you successfully ingested at least half the can of soda?"

Amy nodded, but said, "I have no intention of eating a cracker."

Sheldon gave Amy a look. "Now Amy, the cracker will do you good. You won't be able to eat your breakfast if you don't eat a cracker."

Amy's stomach turned at the thought of eating breakfast. "I'm not going to eat breakfast."

"But you have to eat breakfast."

"Not if I'm simply going to vomit it all back up."

"But that's why I'm trying to get you to eat a cracker. How can you get adequate calories when you're not eating three meals per day?"

"I'll drink a couple cans of soda for breakfast."

"Amy. While the soda does contain the necessary calories, it does not contain the proper nutrients."

"That is what those horse pill prenatal vitamins are for." Amy took another sip of the soda.

"But you won't be able to take the vitamin if you don't eat breakfast, and you won't be able to eat breakfast if you don't eat a cracker."

"I'll take the vitamin at night, after dinner." Amy closed her eyes. All this talk of eating was making her nausea return.

"Amy Farrah Cooper, you are carrying the future of the human race in your womb, and I won't allow you to be so cavalier with your nutrient intake!"

Amy opened her eyes, surprised by Sheldon's tone of voice, to find him looking at her through narrowed eyes.

Sheldon held out a cracker, still looking at her severely. Amy took the cracker, bit off a corner, and then, before she even realized what was happening, she burst into tears.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Just a warning, it's possible that it'll be longer than a week before I update. I have family coming into town. :) Please be kind and leave a review. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sheldon**

Sheldon blinked at Amy in surprise. Not since those awful days of their engagement had he seen Amy spontaneously burst into tears. He wondered now what to do.

"Why are you crying?"

Amy looked up, sniffed, hiccupped, and messily wiped her nose on the sleeve of her pajamas. "I'm sorry." Then she laid her head back on the toilet seat and bit off another corner of the cracker.

Sheldon blinked, still not comprehending the situation.

"You didn't answer the question…Why are you crying?"

Amy didn't answer for several moments, taking a third bite of the cracker and then screwing her face up and saying, "I don't know!", followed by more tears.

Sheldon looked around himself, at a loss. If Amy was unable to tell him why she was crying, then how was he to attempt to make amends? He thought for a moment.

"Was this due to my insistence that you eat a cracker?"

Amy shook her head, wiping her eyes in an apparent attempt at slowing her tears. "No…I don't know…maybe."

Sheldon did a double take when Amy's shoulders started shaking again and a fresh wave of tears came pouring out of her eyes.

He really detested weeping women…especially when they did not provide a reason for their crying.

_Think Cooper,_ he thought. _You've spent many an hour reading up on pregnancy hormones._

Amy's nose had started running, causing her to sniff and once again use her sleeve as a handkerchief.

_Let's handle this logically,_ Sheldon thought. First things first.

Sheldon reached around Amy and pulled off some toilet paper. He held it up to a surprised Amy's nose and said "blow."

He was completely disgusted once the toilet paper was filled with the contents of Amy's nose, but managed to choke down the urge to immediately wash his hands. He reminded himself that he was already sitting on the bathroom floor, and in the meantime rubbed some Purell on his hands while Amy took a sip of her soda.

Sheldon looked over at Amy, who was again leaning her head against the toilet seat, still hiccupping, with tears streaking down her face. He stood up briefly to grab a washcloth, wetting it in the sink. Then he returned to Amy, kneeling down next to her. He gingerly put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him.

He held out the wet washcloth. "Would you like to wipe your face?"

Amy nodded and grabbed the cloth. Sheldon took the can of soda from her so that she could use both hands to run the washcloth over her face. When she was finished, he took the washcloth from her and placed it, and the can of soda, by the sink.

Then Sheldon turned back to Amy. "Do you feel better?"

Amy sniffed a few times before saying, "Yes. Thank you."

"Is your nausea still present?"

Amy nodded. "Yes, but the urge to vomit has calmed down…" The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly. "It appears the crackers and ginger ale helped to calm my stomach."

Sheldon nodded. "Naturally."

Amy looked down and started fidgeting with her fingers. "I apologize for my outburst."

Sheldon blinked at Amy in shock. "Your apology, while appreciated, is unnecessary. Your uncharacteristic emotional outburst is undoubtedly due to the combination of being awoken early from your REM cycle, the excessive vomiting, and, of course, the swirling vortex of pregnancy induced hormones raging through your blood stream. It is completely understandable." Sheldon took a deep breath and then added, "And…it is also possible that I spoke in a tone which some might consider harsh…but that does not mean that I am not still quite serious about your eating a hearty breakfast every morning."

Amy looked up, fresh tears in her eyes.

Sheldon stared in horror as Amy started crying yet again. "Is it that important for you to skip a meal? If you are so insistent I suppose I can re-examine your meal time flow chart to see where we can add in the extra calories and nutrients. Perhaps an extra snack or two would suffice."

Amy shook her head and then reached over and hugged Sheldon. He returned her hug, still baffled by what was happening.

When she pulled away, Amy kissed him and then sat back.

"What was that for?" Sheldon asked. He really hated his current inability to decipher the motives behind Amy's strange behavior.

Amy shrugged, sniffing. "For being…you."

Sheldon frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Amy hiccupped, and then said, "You approached the situation logically, excusing my ridiculous behavior with the scientific reasons behind it, which is especially noteworthy considering your general fear of weeping women. For that I'm appreciative…And you've also been very helpful and…nurturing." She reached over and grabbed his hand. "Thank you."

Sheldon blinked, surprised, and the nodded. "You're welcome." He stood up and held out a hand to help Amy up. "Shall we clean ourselves up and begin preparing for the day?"

Amy nodded, but then gasped and said, "Wait!"

"What is it?" he said in alarm. "Are you about to vomit again? Do you need more crackers?"

Amy shook her head. "Go get the video camera."

Sheldon blinked at her, uncomprehending. "Whatever for?"

"To record this moment of course."

Sheldon stared. "Amy…why on earth would you wish to record this? Forgive me, but you look terrible."

Amy blinked, clearly shocked. "I look terrible?" Her eyes started filling with more tears.

"Wait!" Sheldon said, panicking. "You look…lovely…I simply meant that perhaps you would prefer to shower and…brush your hair first."

Amy took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opened them, the tears had dissipated. "No. The moment must be captured raw."

Sheldon frowned. "Why?"

"Because otherwise it's not realistic! Please just go get the camera…" Amy gave him a look.

Sheldon shook his head and said, "Alright." As he walked down the hallway to retrieve the camera, he couldn't help but wonder how many of these baffling mornings he would have to endure over the next roughly eight months…

When he returned, Sheldon started to hand the camera to Amy. She pushed it away and said, "No, you record."

Sheldon looked down at Amy, who was still sitting on the floor. "Don't you want to stand up?"

Amy shook her head. "No. It's more realistic if I'm on the floor…and I'm a little worried that if I stand up, I may vomit again."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, but decided he would prefer to figuratively bite his tongue rather than risk more crying from Amy. He held up the camera and then pointed at Amy to begin.

Amy put on a weak smile. "Hello dear child. It is your mother, and it is…" she looked at Sheldon. "What time is it?"

Sheldon looked quickly at his watch. "6:07."

"It is 6:07 in the morning. You are still an embryo, a mere eight weeks and three days old, and I have just had my first run in with morning sickness." Amy gestured towards Sheldon. "Turn the camera around and say hello."

Sheldon rolled his eyes, but complied, waving and saying "Hello," to the camera.

When Sheldon turned the camera back, Amy beamed and said, "Your father assisted me during the slightly harrowing experience. He provided saltines and ginger ale, insisting so severely that I eat them, that I cried." She ended with a smile and gestured for Sheldon to turn the camera off.

As he put the camera down, Sheldon said. "I'm not sure it was necessary for you to point out that you were crying because of something I said. You will bias our child towards you."

Amy waved a hand dismissively at Sheldon, finally standing up. "I'm sure the child will love each of us equally, and this video will have no bearing on which is the favored parent."

Sheldon doubted the validity of that statement, but again chose to hold his tongue.

* * *

"Are you ok Sheldon?"

Sheldon looked over at Leonard. They were on their way to work, and Sheldon had been staring out the window, contemplating the morning's happenings.

"My morning routine suffered greatly this morning. Perhaps it has affected my social interactions with you as well."

Leonard raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Sheldon. "Oh? What happened?"

Sheldon sighed. "Amy woke up vomiting."

"Ah. Morning sickness?"

"Yes."

Leonard sighed heavily. "Been there…"

Sheldon cocked his head to the side thinking. "What did you do for Penny when she was ill?"

Leonard shrugged. "Held her hair back, rubbed her back…promised to remain celibate for the rest of my life…"

Sheldon did a double take. "Why would you promise that?"

Leonard waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, usually when Penny was throwing up she swore we'd never have sex again because one pregnancy was enough…it went away though."

Sheldon frowned. "The morning sickness or the threat of celibacy?"

Leonard shrugged. "Both."

Sheldon turned back to face the front. "I see…I wonder if I should make similar promises to Amy…"

"Has she said something like that to you?"

"No."

"Then don't promise anything."

Sheldon turned back to look at Leonard. "Did Penny ever spontaneously burst into tears while she was pregnant?"

Leonard sighed again. "All the time…one time she started crying at that toilet paper commercial…you know, the one with the puppy?"

Sheldon frowned. "Why would she cry at that? Nothing sad happens…if I remember correctly, the puppy merely runs around with the toilet paper…oh. Was she perhaps upset at the puppy wasting perfectly good toilet paper?"

"No. She said the puppy was cute."

Sheldon waited for Leonard to continue. "…And?"

Leonard shrugged. "And that was it."

"You mean, she cried because she thought the puppy was cute?"

"Yep."

Sheldon again turned to face the front, baffled at the logic behind crying over a cute puppy. "So how did you handle those situations?"

Leonard shrugged. "I just tried to be supportive…did Amy start crying?"

Sheldon sighed. "Yes."

"Did she say why?"

"She said she didn't know…it may have been due to a harsh tone I used when attempting to coerce her into eating a cracker."

Leonard inhaled through is teeth. "You used a harsh tone and tried to force her to eat? Rookie mistake."

Sheldon looked over. "What do you mean? I was being supportive. If Amy does not eat crackers to help settle her stomach, then she will continually skip meals. And I don't think I have to tell you that the first trimester of pregnancy is the most important in regards to adequate nutrient intake."

"Yeah, I know, but you have to be…careful, with pregnant women."

"Careful? Like how?"

"You know…don't use harsh tones, don't try to force them to do anything…Think of Amy as an easily spooked cat…which could rip your face to shreds if it feels threatened."

Sheldon did a double take. "You want me to act as if Amy is a feral cat?...That doesn't seem like very good advice Leonard."

Leonard shrugged. "Take it or leave it, but I'd be preparing yourself for a lot of mornings like this one."

Sheldon didn't like that prospect at all.

* * *

After spending the morning being continually interrupted by thoughts regarding Amy's morning sickness and its impact on his life, Sheldon spent most of the afternoon doing further research on the subject. He simply couldn't afford to be awoken a half hour early every morning for the foreseeable future. Amy was due in approximately eight months, and Sheldon needed to make serious headway in his research before he spent, at his best estimate, at least six months rendered exhausted by constant waking in the middle of the night due to a screaming infant…and of course, he didn't relish the thought of Amy being forced to vomit every morning, either.

When he arrived home that evening, Sheldon found Amy lying on the couch, eyes closed, with a washcloth over her eyes.

"Amy?" he asked, concerned.

Without removing the cloth from her eyes, Amy responded with, "Sheldon?"

"Are you alright?" Sheldon walked over to stand next to Amy. He couldn't sit down because her head was currently lying in his spot.

"It would seem that my morning sickness is not restricted to the morning. Lying perfectly still and blocking out light with a cool, damp washcloth seems to do the trick though."

Sheldon frowned. "When did it return?"

"It never left. I spent a good portion of my day hunched over either the trashcan or toilet at work."

"How did you get home?" Sheldon asked, alarmed to find that Amy had been so sick all day.

"I drove."

"And you were able to make it home without incident? I wish you would have called me. I could have asked Leonard to stop by and pick you up…"

"No. It was fine. I just had to pull over a couple times to vomit in the street."

Sheldon was not happy at this news at all…it was a good thing he had come home prepared.

He bent down to awkwardly pat Amy on the head. "I brought you a present."

Amy lifted a corner of the washcloth to look at him in surprise. "You did?"

Sheldon nodded, holding up the bag.

"What is it?" Amy said, first smiling, and then pressing her lips together and putting the washcloth back over her eyes.

"Vitamin B6."

Amy was silent for a few moments. "Not that I'm not happy you bought me a…present, but why did you purchase Vitamin B6?"

"I did some research online this afternoon. According to several studies, as well as several pregnancy related forums, Vitamin B6 can greatly reduce and/or cure the nausea associated with the first trimester of pregnancy…although it is not one hundred percent effective, so until we try it, we will not know if it will work on you."

"I see…" Amy bit her bottom lip. "Sheldon…I hate to put a damper on your…thoughtful gift, but how can I take a vitamin when I can barely hold down water?"

Sheldon frowned. "Did you follow the hydration and energy consumption flow chart we designed?"

Amy didn't answer for several moments. "Um…I may have skipped a few…meals and snacks…"

"Amy!" Sheldon said in alarm. "You know we designed the flow chart for the sole purpose of making sure that you, A, avoid aggravating your nausea, and B, get adequate nutrients throughout the day! We planned for this. Why did you ignore it?"

"I'm sorry Sheldon, but when you're leaning over a trashcan at 11:30 a.m. trying not to vomit, lunch is the last thing on your agenda."

"But you had had your 8:30 and 10:30 snacks right?"

Amy remained silent. "…I was nauseated…"

Sheldon sighed. What good was all their planning if Amy ignored it? He looked down at Amy, remembering the events of the morning, and his conversation with Leonard, and decided not to yell at her. But it was difficult.

Sheldon walked over to the kitchen, again grabbing a ginger ale and crackers. He walked back over to the couch.

"Do you think you could sit up?"

Amy attempted to sit up and then quickly lay back down. "Nope."

Sheldon sighed. "Very well."

He set down the crackers and ginger ale on the side table and then lifted Amy by her shoulders so that he could sit down in his spot with her head in his lap.

Amy smiled and blindly grabbed for his right hand with both of hers.

But when Sheldon put a cracker in her hand and said, "Eat," her smile disappeared.

Amy pressed her lips together and said, "If I eat, I'll vomit."

"If you don't eat, you'll never be able to take the vitamin B6 and alleviate your nausea."

"It appears we are in a catch-22. If I eat I'll vomit, but if I don't eat, I'll never stop vomiting."

"Don't be ridiculous. You'll stop vomiting eventually…but it may be a few months…try eating a corner of the cracker and then taking a sip of the ginger ale."

Amy sighed heavily, and slowly brought the cracker to her mouth, biting off such a small bite that Sheldon rolled his eyes. He reached back to the side table and opened the can of ginger ale. Then he extracted his hand from Amy's and used it to lift her up by her shoulders, holding the can to her lips.

"Drink."

Amy took a small sip and then laid her head back in Sheldon's lap. Sheldon continued to command Amy to "eat," and "drink" over the course of the next forty-five minutes, until she had drank the entire can of ginger ale and had eaten fifteen crackers.

After the fifteenth cracker, Amy sat up slowly, removing the washcloth from her eyes. Sheldon looked at her.

"Has your nausea dissipated?"

"No…but it has been greatly reduced."

Sheldon held up the bottle of vitamins. "Perhaps now you should attempt to swallow the vitamin."

Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "…I'll try."

Sheldon smiled. "Excellent." He walked back to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When he returned, he sat back down, handing Amy the water, and then reaching to grab the vitamins.

Amy looked at the pill in her hand for several moments. It was really a very small pill, so Sheldon didn't quite understand her hesitancy. Eventually Amy took a deep breath, put her hand to her mouth, and then took a drink. She kept her eyes closed for a minute afterwards, leaning her head against Sheldon's shoulder. Sheldon looked down at Amy, praying to the deity that he didn't believe in that the vitamin would stay in her stomach.

Thinking that, perhaps, he should give some sort of encouragement, Sheldon put his arm around Amy's shoulder. She immediately brought her feet up in the couch and wrapped both arms around his midsection.

Amy opened her eyes and looked up at Sheldon, smiling. "Thank you."

Sheldon looked down at her. "Has the vitamin already worked?"

Amy shook her head. "No…thank you for your help."

Sheldon blinked. "Oh…you're welcome…do you think you will be able to eat dinner soon?"

Amy shook her head again. "I'm still quite nauseated…could we just sit here like this for a bit?"

Sheldon, who was starting to get hungry, sighed and reluctantly nodded. "Very well…but you will have to eat eventually."

Amy closed her eyes. "I know..."

Sheldon slowly brought his other arm around to hug Amy. He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Amy."

Amy looked up at him. "For what? Eating?"

Sheldon, who still generally detested verbalizing his feelings, said, "For agreeing to put yourself through this…it…means a lot to me."

Amy smiled and leaned up to kiss Sheldon. "Despite the fact that I can no longer remember what it feels like not to be nauseated, I am happy to 'put myself through this' if the end result is an infant who is an amalgamation of the two of us."

They smiled at each other, and then Amy leaned her head back against Sheldon's chest, while Sheldon thought fondly of his future progeny. As they sat there in silence, Sheldon found himself pondering the statistical probabilities for the various features of their child, hoping that said child looked like his, or her, mother.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! And thanks for your patience. My dad is still in town, but he has spent the morning golfing, so I've spent the morning writing. Win/Win. :) Oh and that Vitamin B6 thing is true, so everyone log that away for future reference. I'm a dietitian. I know these things. ;) Please do me the great honor of leaving a review. Many thanks! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Amy**

"Amy…what on earth are you doing?"

Amy looked up from making her sandwich to see Sheldon looking at her perplexed. "I was hungry." She smiled. "The B6 certainly has helped. I haven't vomited for days."

Sheldon paused for a beat before saying, "That's wonderful of course, but…what are you doing?"

Amy cocked her head to the side, confused. "What do you mean? I said I was hungry. I should think it would be fairly obvious to you that I am preparing something to remedy the situation."

"Yes, but…why are you putting pickles on, what appears to be, a peanut butter sandwich?"

Amy looked down at her half finished sandwich. Yes, pickles on a peanut butter sandwich were indeed strange, but the thought of those wonderfully salty dill pickles with the slightly sweet, yet also salty, peanut butter made her mouth water.

Amy swallowed and then replied, "It just sounds good…perhaps I need the salt?"

Sheldon frowned. "But why should you need the salt? Have you been drinking more water than we charted?"

Amy put the top slice of bread on her sandwich as she shook her head. "Nope. One exact gallon of water per day." She took a bite of the sandwich and then groaned, closing her eyes. It tasted wonderful. In addition to the salty/sweet mixture, there was also the crunchiness of the pickles in contrast to the soft and smooth bread and peanut butter. Amy opened her eyes, gasping as a thought occurred to her. "We need to buy some crunchy peanut butter."

She looked over at Sheldon, who was staring at her with his mouth open. She smiled at him before gasping again. "Get the video camera!"

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Why?"

Amy smiled again. "I've just had my first strange pregnancy craving. It must be documented!" She took another deliciously wonderful bite of her sandwich. Oh my, it tasted so good. Amy closed her eyes again, savoring the flavors and textures. Why had she never thought to put pickles in peanut butter sandwiches before? For that matter, why had no one else thought of doing this? She took a third bite. Oh my gosh, she and Sheldon could make a fortune if they opened a restaurant that sold items like peanut butter sandwiches with dill pickles on them. Perhaps they could start with a small stand to get things rolling. She took a fourth bite. Oh she could picture it now. They would start with a small stand, but within a week, two tops, they would have made enough money to buy a small store near the beach somewhere. And then once they opened that up, they'd just have to sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in…

Amy took a fifth bite, groaning again at the deliciousness of the sandwich. Realizing that Sheldon should have returned from retrieving the camera, she opened her eyes and looked over at him. It appeared Sheldon had not moved, as he was still staring at her open mouthed and did not have the camera in hand.

Amy frowned at him. "Why haven't you gotten the camera?"

Sheldon blinked several times, appearing to look between Amy and what little was left of the sandwich in her hand. "I'm not sure I want the moment our child's mother decided to have an affair documented for our child to see...Then again, perhaps it would be best to have such documentation to show just where the marriage went wrong when he or she asks."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Sheldon looked back at Amy and raised his own eyebrows. "It would appear you are engaging in intercourse with that sandwich."

Amy swallowed a little too quickly in her shock and started coughing. "…intercourse?"

Sheldon tapped his lips with his index finger. "Yes…that's probably the wrong analogy. Oral coitus would likely be the better one."

Amy, after taking a drink of water to clear her throat, said, "I hope there's a bazinga in there somewhere."

Sheldon tapped his index finger to his nose, the corners of his mouth drawing up ever so slightly. He shook his head, appearing proud of himself. "Another of my classic pranks."

Amy rolled her eyes, now both laughing and coughing.

"Just go get the camera," she said between coughs.

Sheldon frowned. "Are you alright? You seem to be having problems breathing. I wouldn't want our child to suffer in their growth due to lack of oxygen."

Amy took another drink of her water. "You concern for my welfare is touching."

Sheldon frowned. "Sarcasm?"

"Indeed."

Sheldon opened his mouth to speak, but Amy interrupted whatever thought he was about to vocalize with, "Just go get the camera. I want to record this before we leave."

Sheldon looked at his watch and nodded. "Very well. But we have to leave in eight minutes if we are to be on time for the doctor's appointment."

They were going to get to hear the baby's heartbeat today.

Amy widened her eyes and made shooing motions. "Then go get the camera!"

Sheldon held up his hands. "Alright, alright. Calm down." He walked away shaking his head.

Amy, in the meantime, finished off her sandwich, chuckling when she caught herself groaning again. She couldn't help it. It was such a darned good sandwich!

Sheldon returned from their office, camera in hand. He stopped a few feet from Amy, held up the camera, and then put it down, saying "Are you sure you want to document this?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "How many times must we discuss this? I want every moment documented!"

Sheldon sighed, said, "Fine," and then held the camera up again, pointing at Amy to begin.

Amy smiled. "Hello darling child. This is your mother, Amy Farrah Cooper."

Sheldon, still holding the camera up, said, "I don't think you have to say your name every time. I'm fairly certain that the child will know who you are."

Amy narrowed her eyes. "Put the camera down."

Sheldon complied as Amy crossed her arms.

"I don't like your tone."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows. "My tone?"

"Yes. It was completely unnecessary."

"My tone was the same as it always is. I spent much of my youth perfecting my preferred tone. My tone has, and always will be, 'Indifferent'."

"I see." Amy stared at Sheldon through her narrowed eyes. As a rule, she enjoyed being married to Sheldon. He was handsome, lanky, brilliant, wonderful, and surprisingly thoughtful and caring. (At least if Penny was to be believed on the subject of whether or not that was 'surprising'.) But then there were moments like this, when Sheldon seemed to willfully act like a…well…a pompous brat.

Sheldon cocked his head to the side. "I appear to have said something to upset you."

Amy looked up at the ceiling and then back at Sheldon. "What was your first clue?"

Sheldon appeared to think. "Well…your crossed arms and narrowed eyes, coupled with your sarcastic replies to my statements, all suggest that you are upset. For the purpose moving the conversation forward to the point of resolution, as we now have four minutes before we must leave, what did I say that you found upsetting?"

Amy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and reminding herself that she should be grateful that Sheldon was requesting to know what he had said to upset her, rather than trying to insist that he was not in the wrong. She opened her eyes and said, "I am tired of your constant unenthusiastic behavior regarding this video. I am excited by the prospect of our child and wish to document every moment so that it can be relived with our child and/or when we are older." She felt herself start to tear up; something which seemed to happen with frustrating regularity these days. "What if this is the only time I'm pregnant? There is no saying if we'll have any other children, especially given the fact that neither of us is getting any younger," she noticed the pitch of her voice rising, but seemed powerless to stop it, "and I want to remember every intricate moment of this wonderful period of time."

By the time Amy reached the word "time" her voice was bordering on a pitch that only wild animals and dogs could hear. While she appreciated that it was normal to have hormones attempt to dictate your moods, Amy did not like that _her_ hormones seemed to have set up metaphorical picketing lines in her prefrontal cortex in order to protest emotional control, thus impairing her ability to adequately control herself.

Amy took a deep breath, in an attempt to control her crying, wiped her eyes, and looked back at Sheldon. He stood blinking at her for several moments, before clearing his throat, shuffling his feet, and saying, "I apologize…now please stop crying…we have to finish this video in the next three minutes or we'll be late for the doctor's."

Amy nodded, wiped her eyes again, and pasted on a smile. After Sheldon indicated that she should begin, she said. "Hello again, dear child. You are now ten weeks and five days old, and today is the first day of, what I assume will be many of, my strange pregnancy cravings. Today's unusual craving was a peanut butter and dill pickle sandwich." Amy's mouth started watering again as she mentally relived the delicious sandwich. She swallowed and continued. "I have no doubt that, by the time you watch this, such sandwiches will be the norm, as they are simply delightful, and I fully intend to begin marketing them after your birth."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, looking around the camera at her, incredulously.

Amy raised her eyebrows in return, and said to the camera. "It would appear, based on your father's facial expression, that he does not share my belief in the success of my future enterprise. But no matter, I have every confidence that I will be the one who is correct in the end."

Sheldon waved his hand in a circle to indicate that Amy needed to wrap up. "It appears that I must leave you now, as it is time for your father and I to leave for my first doctor's appointment. Today we are scheduled to hear your heartbeat for the first time. Rest assured that the next segment of this video will record that event. Until then," Amy waved at the camera, and then Sheldon put it down.

Amy, in another wave of these unpredictable, hormone-based emotions, walked over to Sheldon and wrapped her arms around him. Sheldon hesitantly returned her hug and then said, "Not that I am not happy that you are no longer angry with me, but what have I apparently done which has warranted a hug?...I'd like to write it down in my log of daily interactions as a reference for future use."

Amy looked upwards and smiled at Sheldon. "I love you."

"And I you…but that didn't answer my question."

Amy stood on her tip toes to kiss Sheldon on the mouth. "Actually, that was the answer."

Sheldon looked down at her, blinking. After a moment he simply said, "I'm not sure I'll ever get the hang of these pregnancy hormones."

Amy snorted. "You? At least you don't have them dictating your every irrational move."

Sheldon shrugged. "Fair enough."

Amy pulled away as Sheldon looked at his watch. "We're late. It is now two minutes past our designated departure time."

Amy nodded. "Apologies. Let me just put on my shoes." Amy walked quickly into the bedroom, now eagerly anticipating the upcoming doctor's visit.

* * *

"Amy Cooper?"

Amy looked over at Sheldon and smiled before she and Sheldon both rose to follow the nurse.

After the nurse got Amy's weight, she walked towards a bathroom and handed Amy a cup.

"Please fill this."

Amy let go of Sheldon's hand, who was looking confused, and walked into the bathroom. Amy hadn't realized that she would be forced to urinate. If she had known that, she would have had an extra eight ounce cup of water before they had left to help move things along.

As she sat there, waiting to urinate into the small plastic cup, Amy could hear Sheldon inquiring about the need to check Amy's urine. It would seem that Sheldon had not run across this information during his research and was having a hard time believing in its routine nature.

After another minute, in which Amy heard Sheldon complain to the nurse that it is because he and Amy had not been forewarned about the need to urinate into a cup that she, Amy, was taking so long , Amy was finally able to urinate. It would seem Penny is not the only one who could be a little bladder shy.

Amy thoroughly washed her hands and then walked back out and handed the cup to the nurse, who immediately stuck a stick into it, pulled it out, looked at it, and then proclaimed "normal."

Sheldon frowned and opened his mouth, but Amy tapped him on the shoulder and shook her head. She didn't want to alienate the staff of the doctor's office just yet. There were still many months left in this pregnancy and Amy didn't want to be forced to find a new doctor.

The nurse then led the two of them towards a room. As they walked behind the nurse, Amy felt Sheldon grab her hand. When she looked over at him in mild surprise, he was looking straight ahead.

The room had a table in the center, covered in some sort of hygienic paper, and three chairs.

"Go ahead and have a seat on the table please, Amy," said the nurse.

Amy awkwardly hopped onto the table. The nurse put a blood pressure cuff on Amy's arm, presumably to check her blood pressure.

Sheldon suddenly spoke up. "How frequently do you check to make sure that your sphygmomanometers are accurate?"

The nurse frowned, taking the stethoscope out of her ears, and saying, "What?"

"Your sphygmomanometers. How often do you calibrate them?"

"What is a sphyg…" the nurse paused, obviously having difficulty with the term.

"Sphygmomanometer." Sheldon pointed. "The more common term is the 'blood pressure cuff.'…And frankly, I'm a little worried that I have to explain this to you. I would have expected an acclaimed doctor, such as Dr. Billings, to have hired more proficient staff."

"Sheldon…" Amy gave Sheldon a look. Perhaps it would be best if she came to a few of their doctor's appointments alone…

Amy turned to the nurse. "My apologies for my husband. Please continue."

The nurse nodded and smiled. "Oh, no problem. We get nervous husbands in here all the time." The nurse went back to checking Amy's blood pressure, declaring it also "normal".

The nurse indicated that Amy was free to sit in one of the chairs to wait for Dr. Billings to come in, and then left.

Amy looked over at Sheldon, who had again grabbed her hand and was looking straight ahead, appearing to stare at the wall.

Amy frowned, concerned. "Sheldon? Are you alright? You look nervous."

Sheldon looked over at her. "Why would I be nervous? This is nothing more than a routine visit in which we, or more specifically you, will be subjected to a series of standardized personal health questions which will undoubtedly include extremely personal biological topics such as the date of your last menstrual period and/or the frequency with which we have had intercourse, at the end of which the doctor will give you a due date, which of course we have already figured out ourselves, and then use a fetal doppler in order to make sure that the child growing inside of you does indeed have a heartbeat."

Amy squeezed his hand. "I'm nervous too."

Sheldon looked down at Amy for another beat, and then faced the front again. "There is nothing to be nervous about. As I said, this is merely routine. And it's not like we didn't already do thorough research on the best doctor in our area. You will be reaping the benefit of having the most highly skilled practitioner our money can afford…even if she is someone who chose to go into a trade instead of doing something fulfilling like theoretical work…"

Amy leaned her head down on Sheldon's shoulder, putting her other hand on top of their intertwined hands. After over six years of knowing Sheldon, she had eventually come to realize that speeches, such as the one he just gave, were usually the result of fear on Sheldon's part, and his attempt to retain some measure of control.

After several minutes of sitting in silence, Sheldon said, "What's taking so long? Our appointment started over twenty minutes ago."

Amy sat up. "Sheldon, waiting for an OBGYN is fairly common. There are any number of things which could have delayed Dr. Billings. Please be patient."

Sheldon looked down at Amy for a moment before sighing and looking back at the front. "Fine."

Finally, after several more minutes, Dr. Billings walked through the door and introduced herself. "Hello Amy, I'm Dr. Billings. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, thank you."

Dr. Billings smiled at Sheldon. "And is this Mr. Cooper?"

Sheldon blinked. "It's Dr. Cooper actually."

"His name is Sheldon," Amy said.

Dr. Billings held out her hand to Sheldon. "Is it alright if I call you Sheldon?"

"I'd prefer Dr. Cooper-," Amy elbowed Sheldon and gave him a look. "But Sheldon will be satisfactory."

"Alright then, shall we get started?"

Amy nodded and then Dr. Billings proceeded to explain the general process for each of the visits throughout the course of Amy's pregnancy, and then moved on to a long line of questioning regarding Amy's health and nutrition practices. When they were finished, Dr. Billings smiled at Amy and Sheldon and said, "Shall we see if we can hear a heartbeat?"

Sheldon looked confused. "I would assume as a doctor of medicine that you would be more proficient in finding a heartbeat. I believe the heart is located in the upper left hand side of the body."

Dr. Billings stared at Sheldon, as Amy leaned over and said, "I believe Dr. Billings was referring to the heartbeat of the baby."

Sheldon cleared his throat. "Oh." He gestured towards Dr. Billings. "In that case, proceed."

"Alright, Amy, why don't you go ahead and make yourself comfortable on the table here. Just lie back on it with your head on the little pillow. Sheldon, if you like, you can pull the chair over to sit near her head."

Amy got back on to the table and lay back, grabbing and hanging on to Sheldon's hand after he brought a chair over to sit next to her. Aside from general excitement, Amy was beginning to feel nervous. What if something went wrong? What if there was no heartbeat? Amy had read that sometimes the first appointment was when women found out that their pregnancy was not viable. She simply didn't know what she would do if such a thing were to happen.

Dr. Billings put a little bit of gel on Amy's stomach and pushed the wand around. Suddenly the room was filled with the "whomp whomp" sound of a fetal heartbeat.

"There you go. One hundred and seventy-four beats per minute. Very healthy."

Amy felt a lump in her throat and tears filling her eyes. Never had she imagined that a strange whomping sound could illicit such emotions. That sound was the heartbeat of the child that she and Sheldon had made. It was real. They really were going to have a baby. A healthy baby. The proof was right there, filling their ears.

Amy looked up at Sheldon, wiping her eyes with her free hand. Sheldon was blinking at Amy's stomach, looking stunned. Amy watched him for several moments until he looked over at her and simply said, "Fascinating."

Amy squeezed Sheldon's hand and smiled at him through her tears.

Suddenly the sound stopped, causing the both of them to look over at Dr. Billings.

"Well, congratulations you two," said Dr. Billings. "Do you have any further questions Amy? Here's a paper towel to clean off the gel from your stomach."

That was it? Amy wasn't ready to stop listening to her baby's heartbeat yet. "Um…no. I don't have any questions." She grabbed the paper towel, wiped the gel off her stomach, and then sat up.

Dr. Billings stood up and walked to the door. "In that case, we're all done here. Go ahead and make your next appointment before you leave. And please call if you have any problems or concerns. Have a wonderful day you two." And then she walked out the door.

Amy felt a little dazed. She looked over at Sheldon and saw that he had a similar look on his face. Amy swung her feet around and prepared to hop down off the table. But before she could, Sheldon stood up and pulled Amy into a hug.

Amy found herself unable to return the hug as Sheldon had pinned her arms to her side, and her feet were left simply hanging in the air, as Sheldon had straightened up after grabbing her. After several moments, Sheldon set Amy back down and cleared his throat. "Shall we go?"

"That was unexpected."

Sheldon cleared his throat again and shuffled in place. "Yes. I…ahem…felt a sudden…burst of emotion…as it were…It's perfectly natural. An evolutionary driver that ensure the parents of an infant care for it and ensure the continuance of the species…"

Amy choked back a smile and raised her eyebrows. "An evolutionary driver in relation to a piece of technology that is less than a hundred years old?"

Sheldon paused for a beat. "Yes."

Sheldon quickly grabbed Amy's purse, handing it to her and saying, "Shall we go?"

Amy grabbed Sheldon's hand, and smiled. "I'm excited too. It _was_ wonderful was it not?"

Sheldon looked down at Amy, the corners of his mouth curling up. "Indeed."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! A special thanks to my bestie for her help on the particulars of a first doctor's visit. And, while I may never have been prego myself, my area of expertise in my field is prenatal nutrition. I've spent 4 years with pregnant women. I've heard a lot. :) Anyway, this note is getting long. Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. I didn't honestly know how interesting people would find a baby fic (aside from the obvious delight at the thought that the Shamy has babies). And also, I had a tough time trying to decide which fic to work on as the reviews from both have been just so wonderful. So seriously, a sincere thank you for reading and for the wonderful reviews. :)**

**P.S.**** I didn't forget about the video during office visit...I just forgot to mention that I didn't forget the video in the author's note. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: As always thanks for the reviews! And if I managed to convince you that I love eating Peanut Butter and Pickle sandwiches, then I did my job. For the official record, I think they sound completely disgusting. I'm sure a lot of you are reading my other fic as well, but just in case, I'll say here as well that I'm going to have a really busy month, so I'm not sure when I'll be updating. My goal is to continue updating every Monday, but if I don't you know why. But enough from me, time to read! :)**

**Sheldon**

As Sheldon brushed his teeth in the evening after the doctor's appointment, he pondered the baffling fact that a sound as inconspicuous as a fetal heartbeat, as represented by a fetal Doppler, could have induced such a rush of emotions in him. It was rare indeed that he felt an emotion so strongly and swiftly as to induce him to do something as unexpected as spontaneously hug Amy while simultaneously trying to control the urge to spin her around.

Sheldon spit his toothpaste into the sink and proceeded to rinse. When he stood back up he looked at himself in the mirror. "You're going to be a daddy."

It had been at said doctor's appointment today that that particular realization had struck Sheldon.

Of course, he _knew_ that he was going to be a father, but the validity of the statement had not fully sunk in until the first "whomp whomp" sounds had filled the room.

_Sheldon Cooper is going to be a father,_ he thought to himself. He laughed breathily once.

While it had never been in his plan to meet a woman, marry, and then procreate, Sheldon had long planned to eventually have a progeny. That had been the reason behind his meeting Amy's first proposal for a progeny, all those years ago, with such gusto. Of course he would want to ensure that his genetic line continued. What a waste if he was the only person in his species to ever exist…

Sheldon put his toothbrush in its proper holder, fastening the hygienic cover over the top. As he did so, his eye caught sight of his wedding ring. What a strange turn his life has taken. He, Sheldon Cooper, formerly a believer in his eternal bachelorhood, was a married man, sexually active, and in eight months, give or take, would be a father. His sister Missy, by comparison, who had been consistently dating since their father and mother had agreed to let her to begin at age fifteen, was as yet unmarried and completely childless; a fact which she did not appreciate Sheldon bringing to her attention.

Sheldon thought now of his family's reactions to the news that Amy was expecting. George and his wife had made very generic congratulations, making comments on their own children finally having cousins.

Missy, despite Sheldon's insistence to Amy that she would receive the news with lamentations over her own failure to procure a suitable mate and procreate herself, had met the news with gusto. Amy had repeatedly tried to convince Sheldon that Missy actually loved him and was excited for him when things were going well, but Sheldon still found the idea implausible. Therefore, Missy's response had been wholly unexpected.

Naturally his mother had begun praising Jesus for "His mercy". Sheldon had long ago stopped trying to convince that woman to stop insisting everything was preordained by God. As Amy had said, if it made her feel better, then why deprive her of her happiness…even if it _was_ ridiculous.

Sheldon entered his and Amy's bedroom, pausing for a moment when he saw Amy curled in the fetal position on her side, staring at the wall.

"Amy?"

Amy turned her eyes to look at him.

"Are you upset?"

Amy moved her head in a subtle nod, appearing to press her lips together.

Sheldon frowned, concerned. Normally Sheldon could deduce the possible reasons behind his wife's melancholy, in the occasional instances where she was upset, but the addition of Amy's pregnancy hormones had made the business much trickier. Over the past several weeks he had seen Amy upset about everything from accidentally stepping on an ant, to her perceived inability to make it through labor without the aid of pain medications.

Sheldon walked over to his side of the bed, pulling down the covers, and climbing inside. He remained sitting, with his back against the headboard. Perhaps now would be a time for directness. After all, the phrase, "A direct question deserves a direct answer," was a phrase for a reason.

Sheldon looked over at Amy, still curled on her side. "Why?"

Amy remained looking at the wall. Sheldon heard her sniff. "It's stupid."

Sheldon shrugged. "Perhaps. But until you vocalize it, we cannot be sure."

Amy remained silent, causing Sheldon to wonder if he had somehow inadvertently upset her. Sheldon glanced around the room, thinking through his daily interactions, trying to recall a blunder he might have overlooked.

He supposed Amy could be upset at his joke regarding her having intercourse with her sandwich…but she had not seemed upset about that at the time…in fact, he recalled her chuckling.

But then again, she _had_ just said that her reason for being upset was "stupid".

Sheldon reached over to touch Amy on the shoulder. "Have I upset you? Are you offended by my insinuation that you would leave me for a sandwich?"

Amy sniffed again, shaking her head.

Sheldon sighed. "I'm afraid I am at a loss. Unless you tell me what it is that is upsetting you, then I shall not be able to attempt to remedy the situation."

Amy's shoulders started shaking and she pressed her face into the pillow. She gave a muffled reply. "You can't help."

Sheldon frowned. "How do you know? There is very little I can't do."

"You can't drive," Amy said into the pillow.

Sheldon scoffed. "Driving doesn't count. That is a very pedestrian task, and my inability to master it is solely based on the fact that I am too evolved to drive. By comparison, video games are much more difficult to master, and much more worthy of my time."

"You can't win in _Mario Kart_," came Amy's muffled reply.

Sheldon pressed his lips together. "That's not the point. The point is that if you don't tell me what is upsetting you, then, by default, I can do nothing to help resolve the issue. And if we don't resolve the issue, you know I won't sleep well, and then I will potentially lose an entire day's work due to exhaustion, when I need to be making as much progress as possible before the arrival of our child. Do you really wish to be responsible for the success or failure of my desire to achieve a Nobel Prize?"

"Do you plan to make a paradigm altering discovery at work tomorrow?" Amy asked her pillow.

"One does not plan such things Amy, but, to avoid the _annoying_ situation where one does not answer a question posed to them, no."

"Then what does it matter?"

Sheldon sighed. He was becoming very irritated with Amy's resistance. "It matters, because I do not wish to be tired tomorrow…and I do not wish for you to remain upset. Now please quit being ridiculous and simply tell me what why you are upset."

Amy pushed herself up quickly and looked at Sheldon angrily through her tears. "I am not being ridiculous, and I resent your saying that I am."

Sheldon frowned. "You yourself said that the reason behind your being upset was, and I quote, 'stupid.' And your refusal to answer a simple question, especially when the results of sharing the information may be a resolution of the issue at hand is, quite frankly, ridiculous. I stand by my statement."

Amy turned around to sit with her back against the headboard, and crossed her arms.

Sheldon sighed. What a disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful day. Sheldon also crossed his arms, trying to decide between trying to resolve what has now turned into an argument with Amy, or simply to turn out his light and try to go to sleep. Either decision would likely result in a less than optimal sleep time.

He heard Amy sigh, and then saw her unfold her arms and start fidgeting with the blanket in front of her.

Sheldon looked over at Amy when she sighed again.

"We forgot to record the moment we heard our child's first heartbeat."

Sheldon blinked in surprise. They had indeed forgotten. "And that makes you sad?"

Amy nodded, still looking down at the blanket. "I remembered to record the first time I threw up, and the first time I ate an unusual sandwich, but I forgot to record the most wonderful moment of all."

By the time Amy reached the end of her sentence, her voice had risen several octaves and tears were streaming down her face.

Sheldon frowned as he thought back to Amy's initial response to his asking if she was alright. "That's not stupid."

Amy looked over at Sheldon and sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "It's not?"

"No. You defined the purpose of the video as the recording of every first, and the first time we heard his or her heart beat is a momentous occasion. The video will be incomplete without it. Of course you're upset."

Amy stared at Sheldon, sniffing. "You mean…you understand?"

Sheldon blinked at Amy. "Yes. Perhaps I do not share your enthusiasm for the video in general, but I can certainly understand wanting to have a thorough and complete video. Incompletion is very upsetting…that's one of the many reasons I love the movie _Serenity_ so much. Its sole purpose is to complete a story."

Amy wiped her eyes again and then smiled. "Thank you."

Sheldon smiled in return, but it was short lived as Amy's shoulders sagged and her smile went away.

"What is it?"

Amy sighed. "It's just…there's nothing we can do. The moment has passed. Even if we were to record another time we hear the heartbeat, it will still not be the first."

Amy looked so dejected that Sheldon, knowing how much she enjoyed cuddling, put an arm around Amy and pulled her to his side, in an attempt to cheer her up. Amy pulled her hands up and held them to her chest, still sniffing, and snuggled close to him. Knowing as he did that Amy had so little control over her tears these days (given recent events), Sheldon appreciated what he assumed was her attempt to stave them off, as she had not, as yet, completely broken down.

Sheldon thought through their dilemma. Now that it had been brought to his attention, he found the idea of a video which did not include the first heartbeat repellent.

"There has to be a way to fix this."

Amy sighed. "I don't see how…"

Sheldon continued thinking. He simply could not allow the video to be incomplete. There was a way, he was sure of it. Suddenly he thought of something.

"What if we recorded ourselves now?"

Amy looked up. "What do you mean?"

Sheldon looked down at Amy. "I realize, naturally, that there is no way for us to recreate the moment in which we first heard his or her heartbeat. But perhaps we could record ourselves now discussing the moment. At the very least it would be a mentioning of the moment and would fulfill the requirement of having a record of every first, at least in some capacity…it would be a record of the first time we forgot to record a first, after all."

Amy sat up, wearing an expression which Sheldon would call "stunned". "That could work…"

Amy's face suddenly lit up with a smile. "I'm going to go get the camera!" She threw back the covers and flew out the door. Sheldon frowned, hoping Amy didn't accidentally run into a wall in her haste.

Amy ran back in the door and all but leaped into bed. She handed the camera to Sheldon and then proceeded to snuggle back up against him.

Sheldon looked down at her. "Wouldn't it be better if we were both sitting up?"

Amy turned her head to look up at him. "Perhaps, but I would like to continue cuddling. And there are some studies which suggest that when a child sees their parent engaging in physical and/or romantic contact, such as hugging or kissing, that it reinforces the child's security in the success of their parents' bond. Don't you want our child to be secure?"

"Naturally, but are we actually planning to show overt affection in front of our child? I had not considered it, but had assumed that we would keep such types of affection within the confines of the bedroom and/or when we are alone."

Amy frowned. "Of course we will show affection…did you not hear what I just said?"

Sheldon sighed. He did not like the prospect of public displays of affection…even if the public was their own child.

Amy gestured towards the hand Sheldon was holding the video camera in. "Come on. Let's get this over with so we can go to sleep."

Sheldon nodded, put his arm around Amy, and trained the camera on the two of them. When he hit the record button, Amy put on an enormous smile.

"Hello, you wonderful child. I did promise you that the next recording would be of your first heartbeat." Amy sighed. "Sadly, both your father and I were so caught up in the magical moment that we forgot entirely. It was bedtime before the thought even occurred to me. I will admit to being very upset at the prospect of having a video of your firsts which did not include the first time we heard your heartbeat."

Amy looked up at Sheldon, who had been staring into the camera while thinking of the sound of the heartbeat (and finding the face looked similar to his koala face), and smiled. "Your father came up with the brilliant idea to record ourselves now, in an effort to keep the video complete. And, as he pointed out, this is still a first. The first, and hopefully only, time which we both forgot to record a first."

Amy spoke to Sheldon. "Sheldon, you should say something…what did you think about hearing this child's heartbeat for the first time?"

Sheldon looked down at Amy and then back at the camera. "It was pleasant."

Amy frowned. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

Sheldon looked down at Amy again and then back at the camera, contemplating his next words carefully. "It was very pleasant. I quite enjoyed it."

Sheldon looked down at Amy, who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. After a beat, Amy turned back to the camera and smiled. "I agree. It was the most enjoyable experience of my life thus far."

Amy suddenly leaned up and kissed Sheldon on the mouth. He blinked in surprise, turning off the camera and setting it down.

"What was that for?"

Amy shrugged. "I thought it would be nice to get a kiss on camera…for the aforementioned reasons."

Sheldon blinked at Amy for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders.

Sheldon set the camera down on the bedside table and turned off the lights.

When Amy made no move to go back to her side of the bed, Sheldon said, "Amy, I cannot lay down if you don't remove yourself."

Sheldon could hear Amy sigh and then felt her let go of him. He lay down on his back, as usual, preparing himself for sleep.

Sheldon lay there, however, unable to sleep, blinking at the darkness, and thinking about the day's events. He turned his head towards Amy in the darkness.

"Amy?"

Sheldon could feel more than see Amy move her head to look at him. "Yes?"

"Can I…put my hand on your stomach?"

Amy paused before saying, "My stomach is still flat…or at least it's the same as it always has been. There's nothing to feel."

Sheldon paused. "I know."

Amy paused again, and Sheldon contemplated saying "never mind". But then out of the darkness he heard, "Alright."

Sheldon reached out towards the shadow of Amy. She reached out and grabbed his hand, placing it on her stomach, with her two hands on top.

Amy was correct, of course. There was nothing to feel…but Sheldon couldn't help but wonder at the fact that something so small, which was not even as yet big enough to cause Amy's abdomen to swell, already had a heartbeat.

They lay in the silence for so long that, eventually, Sheldon realized Amy had fallen asleep. He could hear her deep, even breathing. He slowly extracted his hand from Amy's abdomen and then settled in to his usual nightly position. He drifted off still thinking about the many events of the day.

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Amy**

"Wait…" Penny held up her fork, looking confused. All of their friends were sitting around Sheldon and Amy's coffee table, eating dinner. Over the years, and the many changes in all of their lives, they had somehow managed to hang on to eating together at least once per week.

"So…you're not having twins?"

Penny had asked how the first doctor's visit had gone and Amy had been filling her bestie in on the details of the wonderful event.

Sheldon looked over at Penny and frowned. "Why on earth would you believe Amy was carrying twins?"

Penny looked over at Leonard, who appeared to be attempting to hide a triumphant smile, and then back at Sheldon. "Well…because _you're_ a twin."

Sheldon looked more confused. "What does my being a twin have to do with whether or not Amy is carrying twins?"

Amy put a hand on Sheldon's arm. "I believe I understand Penny's confusion."

Sheldon looked down at Amy. "Well, I'm glad someone does, because I can't make sense of it."

Amy looked over at Penny. "Sheldon is a fraternal twin. Yes fraternal twins run in a family, but through the female of the line. It would be quite impossible for Sheldon to have any control over how many ova I ovulate in a given month."

Amy heard Leonard quietly say, in a sing song voice, "I told you."

Penny looked over at Leonard and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, she could have been having the other kind of twins…Identical."

Amy nodded. "Quite true, I could have been carrying monozygotic twins. But there is also no reason to assume that I would. Identical twins are, with apologies to all identical twins, nothing more than a random occurrence. There is very little predicting when a zygote will decide to split into two separate entities."

Penny frowned. "Oh."

Amy smiled. "It's ok bestie. No reason to feel stupid. It's a common misunderstanding regarding twins."

Penny blinked. "I never said I felt stupid..."

Amy cleared her throat. "Oh…in that case…nevermind." Amy went back to eating her dumpling.

Amy heard Penny mutter, "_Now_ I feel stupid," under her breath.

"If we're finished with _that_ conversation," said Sheldon, "then I would like to address a different concern."

"Here we go…" said Leonard.

"There has been a serious lack of adherence to our schedule gentleman. And you have all been culprits."

Leonard spoke up again. "Sheldon, our lives aren't the same as they used to be. We don't all have time to play paintball _every single week_."

Sheldon turned to look at Leonard. "Are you saying that you don't find it important to maintain our schedule?"

"Sheldon," Howard spoke up, "We _never_ found it important to maintain _your_ schedule.

As Sheldon turned to address his next statement to Howard, Amy held up her hand. "Gentleman, before you begin, what I can only assume will be, a lengthy argument over the pros and cons of continuing to play a juvenile version of war on the weekends, I would like to invite my fellow females to come with me and sit in the kitchen."

Amy got up, carrying the dishes towards the kitchen , with Penny, Bernadette, and the newest addition to their group, Raj's girlfriend, Rani following behind her. The men in the living room continued their "discussion" over weekend paintballing as if Amy had never interrupted them.

The three guests sat on the stool, while Amy put the dishes in the sink. She decided to wash them later and turned back around.

"May I offer you an additional beverage?"

They all shook their heads. Amy nodded. "Very well then. Let's get down to our female jibber jabber."

Rani raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "What are we jibber jabbering about?"

Amy shrugged. "Any number of female related items will do. For example, have you changed the type of shampoo you use? Your hair is looking decidedly smooth this evening."

Rani smiled. "Oh thank you," she said in her charming Indian accent. Just as Amy had initially found Raj's sister Priya to be beautiful and charming, so she found his girlfriend beautiful and charming. Thank goodness Amy's experiments with Raj had been successful. "I went to a hair salon today for a trim and had it styled," Rani continued.

The girls continued to discuss other mundane girlie topics, much to Amy's delight, for over an hour. When the conversation started to dry up, (and the debate among the men raged on) Amy decided to ask Penny pregnancy-related questions.

"Penny, did you ever find yourself craving odd combinations of food?"

Penny snorted. "Oh yeah. All the time. This one time, I even had Leonard go to the grocery store at three in the morning to get Lima beans so I could eat them with milk like cereal."

Both Bernadette and Rani gave Penny a disgusted look. She shrugged. "I know it's gross, but at the time it sounded great."

Amy nodded. "Yes. I quite understand. The day of the first doctor's appointment, I found myself with a rather odd craving for dill pickles on a peanut butter sandwich…it was quite tastey." Amy felt her mouth start to water at the thought of the sandwich. "When did the cravings go away?"

"Oh, just after I had Julia," Penny answered.

Bernadette sighed. "I hope I don't go through anything like that."

Amy, Rani, and Penny all three looked over at Bernadette.

"What do you mean you hope you don't go through anything like that?" Penny asked.

Bernadette looked at the three of them with a sardonic expression on her face. "I mean, that Howard and I just found out that I'm pregnant and I don't want any weird cravings."

Penny immediately hugged Bernadette. "Oh my god, this is so exciting! Both you and Amy pregnant? Finally, Leonard and I won't be the only ones with kids around here!"

"mmmm," said Bernadette in reply. "Exciting is one way to look at it. Another way is that I'm going to gain weight, get stretch marks, have to put my job on hold for three months after I have the thing…"

Amy and Penny both frowned. "Weren't you guys trying on purpose to get pregnant?"

Bernadette nodded. "Yeah. Howie wants kids so badly, and I just couldn't say no anymore. Since we live above his mom's garage, she agreed to watch the kid while we are at work."

"And you're not even a little bit excited?" Rani asked.

Bernadette looked away from them. "Well…maybe a little bit." She looked back with a small grin on her face. "I keep thinking about how the baby might look like a little Howie and I kind of start getting excited…" Her face fell. "But then I remember that I'm going to have to go through labor, and my excitement dries up faster than Howie when he's in the sun."

Penny waved her hand. "Ah, it's not that bad."

All three women gave Penny a bizarre look. Penny cleared her throat. "You know…once you get past the part where you just want someone to shoot you to put you out of your misery…" She turned to Bernadette. "Well, congratulations anyways, Sweetie."

Bernadette smiled. "Thanks."

Amy smiled widely at Bernadette. "You know what this means right?"

Bernadette looked worried. "No?"

Amy lightly patted Bernadette on her arm, feeling excited. "We get to be 'Pregnancy Pals!'"

"Great…" Bernadette said.

Amy stared off for a moment. Bernadette was pregnant now too. It was going to be great!

* * *

As Amy changed into her pajamas later that night and put on the bra she normally wore to sleep in, she noticed that it felt uncomfortably tight. She had started noticing the same thing with her daily-wear bras as well.

Amy started tugging at the bra, trying to get it into a more comfortable position, and not succeeding. In fact, it seemed the more she fooled around with the bra, the more uncomfortable it became. She found herself becoming frustrated as she became increasingly more uncomfortable.

Amy felt her hormones kick into high gear as she tried, and failed, to resist the urge to stomp her foot and wimper in frustration.

Sheldon, who had been typing on his laptop, sitting upright in bed, looked over at her.

"Did you just stomp your foot?" He was looking at her incredulously, and Amy supposed he had good reason. She was not prone to such outbursts, after all.

Amy felt her eyes start to fill with tears, and became even more frustrated at the fact that she was now starting to cry. "I can't get my bra to feel comfortable."

Sheldon blinked at Amy. "And that is a reason to stomp your foot and cry out in frustration?"

Amy sniffed and tugged more at the bra. "Yes. It is highly uncomfortable."

Sheldon blinked at her. "I believe I read about this in my research. It is quite common for a woman's breasts to start increasing in size during pregnancy, and is actually quite necessary for the process of lactation. That is likely the reason behind your discomfort. I believe the solution is simple."

Amy reached behind to unhook the bra, forcefully throwing it into the dirty clothes basket. "Oh?"

She reached over to grab her pajama top, pulling it quickly over her head. She looked over at Sheldon, who had grown unusually quiet. He was blinking at her.

She walked over to her side of the bed and climbed in, saying "Sheldon?" as she did so.

Sheldon quickly cleared his throat, looked back at his computer screen, and started typing again. "You simply purchase new undergarments."

Amy blinked at Sheldon. "Yes, but that does me little good now, does it? I shall be quite uncomfortable all night."

Sheldon looked over at Amy, closing his laptop and setting it on the nightstand. "Most likely. But I am also given to understand that your nights will only become more uncomfortable as time goes by. Perhaps this is merely phase one of the process. If you master it now, it will surely make phase two easier to handle."

Amy raised her eyebrows, not liking that prospect at all. "That is not a very comforting thought," Amy said, lying her head down onto the pillow, facing Sheldon.

Sheldon shrugged, turned off the light, and settled in as well, facing Amy. "It was meant to be informative, not comforting."

Amy sighed. "Good night, Sheldon."

"Good night, Amy." She felt him roll over onto his back and settle in to his usual "Count Dracula" position.

Amy closed her eyes, trying to go to sleep. But without a bra on, her chest felt…wrong. She rolled over onto her back, hoping it would help.

That made it worse. Amy sighed and rolled over onto her other side. Not any better. Finally, although she knew it was bad for her lumbar region, Amy rolled over onto her stomach.

That was the worst of the positions, as her also painfully tender breasts were now smashed into the mattress.

She rolled over back into her original side lying position. Ironically, it appeared to be the least uncomfortable of all the positions.

She sighed again.

"Amy?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes?"

"I cannot sleep if you continue to toss and turn while sighing loudly."

Amy squirmed around on her side, trying to find the optimal positioning which would allow her to sleep. "I cannot find a comfortable position."

Sheldon sighed. "Have you tried your back?"

Amy rolled her eyes in the darkness. "Naturally. As well as both sides, and my stomach, I might add."

"Your stomach? You know that would be devastating to your lumbar region."

Amy sighed. "Do you have any better ideas? Because I'd be happy to consider them."

"You do realize that this is just for tonight? Tomorrow you can go purchase additional braziers and will be able to sleep soundly."

"Of course," Amy said, starting to feel annoyed. "But that does me little good tonight."

"And you're quite certain you wouldn't be better off simply wearing the undergarment you already have?"

"Not unless you want me to cut off the circulation to my breasts."

"Was it really that tight? It did not appear to be that tight."

Amy sighed. "It was tight."

Sheldon was quiet for a moment. "I'm at a loss then. Good night, Amy."

Amy pressed her lips together in irritation. "So you're going to simply give up?"

"I beg your pardon?" Sheldon sounded surprised.

"Give up. You're not going to help me find a solution?"

"I never give up."

"Interesting. Because it would seem that you are."

Sheldon was quiet for a moment, before sighing. "Fine. I have one additional idea." He paused.

Amy could see his silhouette in the dark, but could not read his facial expression. She waited, but he did not continue speaking.

"Well…what is your idea?"

Amy heard Sheldon sigh again. "We could try the technique colloquially known as 'spooning'."

Amy blinked in the darkness. "And how would that help?"

"I believe that my arm across your midsection, if placed correctly, could provide…additional support to your chest."

Amy smiled. The prospect of a decent night's sleep _and_ an entire night of cuddling? "Very well. I accept your proposal."

Amy rolled over onto her other side as Sheldon scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. She raised her arm to allow his arm to get into the proper position and then placed hers on top of it. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly given that it was Sheldon's idea, it seemed to work. Amy leaned her head backwards onto Sheldon's chest and smiled.

"Face it. You just wanted a reason to get to second base tonight."

Sheldon cleared his throat. "I have no idea what you mean. Now please, let's go to sleep."

Amy closed her eyes, still smiling, and fell asleep quickly.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry this is shorter than usual. To be honest, I'm surprised I finished it today at all. I heard some disturbingly sad news today. Anyway, reviews are much appreciated. Thanks!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I believe an anonymous person requested I update? :) Thanks for the reviews. I've found that women are split on whether they wear a bra to bed at night. My friends and I are about 50% split. I'm sure you can guess where I stand. :) Anyway, let's get to reading.**

**Sheldon**

When Sheldon arrived at the apartment building after work, he walked over to the mail box and opened it, grabbing out the mail inside. He flipped through the stack, noting that it was largely junk mail, with the exception of Amy's monthly copy of _Nueron_. He walked up the stairs, shaking his head as he thought of what a waste it was for companies to spend money on paper and stamps to send items in the mail that will most likely end up in the waste baskets of America. He was no hippie, but it did strike him as a waste to unnecessarily fill landfills when their time and money might better be served simply advertising on billboards, radios, or television commercials.

As Sheldon ascended towards the fourth floor, he wondered what he would find when he opened the door of his and Amy's home. Ever since Amy had become pregnant, Sheldon had found his daily arrival at home had become a virtual roulette of hormone induced situations. Most days Amy was simply starting to prepare dinner, or reading a book, or typing up a paper, or, most recently, researching appropriate baby-related furniture; but on occasion Sheldon had walked into find her crying at a commercial…or crying while preparing dinner, or crying while reading a book, or, most recently, crying while researching appropriate baby-related furniture.

He turned the lock on the door, silently praying to whatever deity would listen that today would be a "normal" day. When he opened the door, however, he was met with a strange sight indeed.

Amy and Bernadette were in the middle of his and Amy's living room, with their legs spread out in an upside down V, with one hand on the ground and one hand pointing towards the ceiling with their faces also looking upwards. Penny was watching them, and said "Perfect…really _feel_ the stretch."

"What on earth is going on?" Sheldon asked.

Amy put her other hand on the floor and looked at Sheldon upside down through her legs. "Penny is showing us both how to do yoga. Apparently it can help with center of gravity issues, as well as help you remain relaxed during labor. Of course, by 'help you remain relaxed' I mean help you remain as relaxed as you can be when your muscles are squeezing your lower abdomen so hard you want to die."

"Thanks for that image, Amy," Bernadette said, still facing the ceiling with her arm up.

"Anything for you, Pregnancy Pal," Amy said, smiling over at Bernadette.

Sheldon looked at the three women for a beat before simply shaking his head and walking over to the trash can to deposit all but one item of today's mail in it.

"Sheldon!" Amy suddenly yelled, startling him.

He looked over at her. She was again holding her arm straight up in the air and looking at the ceiling.

"Yes?"

"Get the video camera."

"So you can record the first time you contorted your body into strange positions?" Sheldon responded.

Penny snorted. "This isn't a strange position…you wanna talk strange positions, you should see the King Pigeon Pose."

Sheldon looked at Penny. "No thank you."

"Get the camera!" Amy insisted.

Sheldon sighed and walked over to grab the camera. Before pointing it at Amy, however, Sheldon pointed it to himself and turned it on.

"Hello, future progeny. By now you may have realized that your mother is virtually obsessed with recording all moments big and small up until your birth, and quite possibly beyond. While I am no less enthusiastic regarding your eventual arrival, I must confess myself equally baffled, as I am sure you will be, by her insistence at recording everything."

"Sheldon!" Sheldon looked over at Amy to see her now standing on one leg, reminding Sheldon of a flamingo, with her other leg wrapped around the back of it, and her arms twisted around each other with the palms touching.

Sheldon looked back at the camera. "Since your mother's discovery of your impending arrival, I have frequently found myself arriving at home to a strange variety of situations. It has not, however, prepared me for the sight which greeted me upon opening the door today."

He turned the camera on Amy just as she started wobbling, apparently losing her balance in the strange position. Bernadette seemed to be having more difficulties, despite her lower center of gravity resulting from her small stature, as she kept attempting to bring her leg around the back of the other, only to have to set it down as she toppled sideways.

"This would be easier, if I didn't feel like throwing up right now," Bernadette grumbled.

Amy lost her balance completely, nearly falling sideways, but managing to catch herself before she fell. She straightened up, glaring at Sheldon, and then smiling at the camera.

"Namaste, adorable child-"

"Hang on a minute," Sheldon said. He turned the camera towards Penny and addressed his next statement to her. "I don't believe I like you attempting to show Amy Yoga. In the few moments I've been observing, it would appear that the positions put Amy into precarious positions would could likely result in her falling over, and potentially falling on her stomach, which I don't have to tell you, could lead to disastrous results. Assuming the child, which is currently gestating in Amy's uterus, arrives healthy and unaffected by such a spill, what do you have to say in response to the danger you have placed the child in?"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Sheldon. Amy isn't going to fall on the baby. I've got it under control. I did yoga all the time when I was pregnant with Julia. It'll be fine."

Sheldon then trained the camera on Julia, who was sitting in a corner, currently in the process of eating play-dough, and then pointed the camera back at Penny. "Given that your daughter is currently eating a non-edible building clay made for children, I can hardly say this eases my mind."

Penny rolled her eyes again, and then walked over to get the clay out of Julia's mouth and tell her "no". "Kids eat play-dough, Sheldon. It's no big deal."

Sheldon opened his mouth to respond, but Amy interrupted him. "Excuse me, Sheldon, but if you're finished harassing my bestie about her parenting choices, I would like to continue with the video."

Sheldon looked upwards and then trained the camera on Amy. She was again in the strange one-legged pose smiling, while Bernadette, who seemed to have given up trying to master the pose, sat on the couch in the background, looking at her nails.

Amy smiled and started again. "Namaste, wonderful child. As your father very pompously pointed out, your Aunt Penny is showing me how to do yoga." Amy started leaning to her left. Sheldon frowned, worried she would again topple to the side. She unhooked her leg and held it out to help regain her balance.

"It is very interesting, and quite calming," she continued, her leg still sticking out to the side. "You can rest assured that when you are experiencing those traumatic contractions prior to your arrival into our lives, I will be doing this lovely form of exercise in the hopes that it will keep me from punching your father in the genitals."

Sheldon put down the camera, suddenly alarmed. "I beg your pardon? Why on earth would you wish to punch my genitalia? I don't find that idea appealing at all."

Penny spoke up. "Oh, well, that's probably my fault. I told her about how I when I was in labor I kept wanting to punch Leonard. One of the nurses took pity on him and found an athletic cup for him to wear. Hurt like hell when I punched it, but at least we can still have more children."

Sheldon sighed, exasperated. Penny really was a terrible influence on his wife. He turned back to Amy. "Shall we continue…_without_ mention of my genitals, please?"

Amy shrugged, finally dropping the stance entirely. "No. I think I said all I want to say."

Sheldon blinked at Amy in shock, before turning the camera back on and pointing it at himself. "If you end up being an only child, you will no doubt now be able to figure out the cause."

* * *

"Sheldon?"

Sheldon, feeling slightly annoyed at being interrupted while he was in the middle of typing up a paper, looked over at Amy, who was sitting on the couch, with a baby names book in her hand.

"Have you given any thought to names?"

Sheldon blinked. "In passing. I have not given it proper thought as yet, due to the fact that we do not know which gender to choose from."

Amy set the book aside and put her chin in her hand. "What if we choose not to find out what the sex of the baby is ahead of time?"

Sheldon, who had kept his hands in typing position, set his hands down and fully turned around. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't we find out what the sex of the baby is?"

Amy shrugged. "I've been doing research on various pregnancy forums, trying to assess the pros and cons behind waiting versus finding out the sex of the baby prior to the date of delivery, and it seems to me that those who choose to wait find the entire experience of giving birth much more…" she cocked her head to the side, appearing to think, "…focused."

Sheldon blinked in shocked. "But if we do not find out ahead of time then how are we to know which color to paint the room, which type of sheets to purchase for the crib, or indeed which types of clothes to purchase." He thought for a moment and then gasped. "Amy! I won't know whether to purchase Flash or Wonder Woman blankets!" He looked back at her. "No, we must find out."

Amy rolled her eyes. "We can purchase the bare minimum prior to the arrival of our child and then simply do more shopping after the arrival of the child. I am given to understand that the needs of an infant are relatively small in the beginning; that is if we exclude diapers and breastmilk. I believe all they need is what is charmingly referred to as a 'onesie' and a bassinette or crib. I think it would be an interesting experience to go in not knowing."

Sheldon stared at Amy. "Amy…do you know me at all?"

Amy sighed. "I am well aware of your aversion to surprises, and your near obsessive compulsive desire to have everything planned down to the last minute detail, but I might remind you that regardless of when we find out it will still be a surprise."

Sheldon closed his eyes and shook his head. "Amy…there is a large difference between being surprised by an ultrasound with months left to plan, and being surprised at the moment of the child's birth with not even an idea what to name said child, let alone what color clothes to purchase for them." Sheldon shuddered at the mere thought of such lawlessness.

"No," he said firmly. "We must find out. The science was developed for a reason."

"Yes," responded Amy. "To ensure the health and proper growth of the child, which would still be done during the ultrasound. We would simply be choosing not to find out one piece of information."

"One _key_ piece of information, without which we cannot hope to properly plan for said child's arrival."

Amy crossed her arms. "I want to wait."

Sheldon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as well. "Well, I refuse to do so…So it would seem that we are at an impasse."

Amy pressed her lips together and looked away without responding. Sheldon suddenly had a thought, which caused him to perk up. "Relationship Agreement! All disagreements will be decided by vote with the husband accounting for sixty percent of the vote." Sheldon smiled triumphantly as Amy looked back over at him in shock. "I win. We find out."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Relationship Agreement? Don't be ridiculous. We are not abiding by an outdated document to decide this particular argument."

Sheldon's mouth popped open in shock. "But Amy, if we don't abide by the Relationship Agreement, then our life is nothing but a series of random and uncontrolled events."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Please recite for me section twelve, paragraph three."

Sheldon pressed his lips together as he recalled that particular paragraph. He sighed and began to recite in monotone, "In the event that this agreement has been violated a net total of five times by either party, it shall be considered null and void and will need to be renegotiated."

"And at your last count, how many violations have occurred since the time we have been married?"

Sheldon hunched his shoulders, annoyed at being defeated by Amy…something which happened with frustrating regularity. "Fifteen." How had he let it get to this point? He used to be so vigilant about such things…He narrowed his eyes. Marriage had made him soft.

"Fine," he said, straightening up. "Then I move for a renegotiation of the agreement."

Amy nodded. "Very well. I move that the first item to be renegotiated be your sixty percent decision ratio. I refuse to sign unless we are given a fifty/fifty equal share in votes."

Sheldon pressed his lips together in irritation. "We're getting off track. We can renegotiate the Relationship Agreement later. The point is that we shall be finding out the sex of the baby."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "I beg to differ…"

Sheldon looked at Amy, slightly panicking at the thought of not knowing ahead of time what to expect. Fatherhood was enough of a mystery without Amy's insistence that they not control the very things they _could_ control, such as knowing ahead of time the sex of the baby.

He turned around to look back at his computer screen, trying to come up with an argument which would convince Amy to stop being so stubborn.

He jumped slightly when he felt Amy's arms snake around him from behind. He had been so focused on thinking that he hadn't heard her approach. Amy kissed his cheek and said softly, in his ear, "Please? I want the birth of our child to be as special as it possibly can be."

Sheldon turned around as Amy stood upright. He was face to face with her stomach. He stared at it for a moment, wondering what sort of child was gestating inside. He finally looked up at Amy. "I'm sorry, Amy. I simply must know ahead of time." He placed a hand on Amy's stomach, feeling the very slight bulge. "The arrival of the child will be no less special given our foreknowledge of whether to expect a Flash or Wonder Woman."

Amy looked at him for a moment, and then sighed. She patted Sheldon's hand on her stomach and then walked back over to the couch, sinking down into it.

"I knew it was a long shot." She picked the book back up.

Sheldon looked from his waiting paper back to the now forlorn-looking Amy and back again. He sighed, hitting save and walking over to sit next to Amy.

He cleared his throat, fidgeting. "So…what names have you given thought to?"

Amy looked over at him with a small smile and then pointed to a girl's name in the book.

"Gertrude?" Sheldon looked at Amy, who appeared to be quite serious about the suggestion. He could see there were going to be many more battles in his future…

**A/N: Thanks for reading! So I don't know if you're aware, but apparently the Olympics start(ed) today. ;) I'm a huge fan, so between that and writing 2 other fics, it _might_ be a bit. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Wow, it's been a long time! I apologize for the wait. First I took time off, then I had no time, then I had writer's block. Yeesh, at this rate, it really will be 9 months before Amy has her baby...Ok so, to refresh your memory, Amy is into recording every minute detail about her pregnancy, she and Sheldon had had a discussion about finding out the sex of the baby, and Sheldon ultimately won that argument (Pro-finding out). Hope you enjoy!**

**Amy**

As she sat in the waiting room of her doctor's office, Amy felt a flutter of nervous excitement. She reached over quickly to grab Sheldon's hand, looking over at him. He blinked at her in surprise before folding his own fingers around hers. He swallowed and turned to face the front. He looked even more anxious than she did at the moment.

Today was the day of her first ultrasound. They were going to get to see a blurry image of their child!

Of course, that meant that any problems, birth defects, or other issues would also likely be found out today and Amy knew that Sheldon was just as anxious to find out that their child was healthy as she was. She had found him looking at websites on birth defects earlier in the week.

"Amy Cooper?"

Amy's stomach flipped as she stood up and attempted to let go of Sheldon's hand. He, however, refused to let her hand go as he stood up. She glanced at him, but he was already pulling her towards the waiting nurse.

After the preliminary health checks were completed, Amy and Sheldon sat in silence, waiting for the technician to arrive.

Amy could hardly believe she was already twenty weeks along. She was getting a little nervous because she hadn't yet been able to detect the baby moving, even though Sheldon had assured her, and she had read, that sometimes women didn't feel the baby move until up to twenty-five weeks. But that didn't stop her (or Sheldon for that matter) from worrying. At least today they would be able to see for sure that the baby was there and (hopefully) healthy.

Amy turned to Sheldon. "Perhaps you should set up the tripod and camera while we wait. That way there won't be a lag time when the technician gets here.

Sheldon nodded. "Good thinking." He stood up and took off his messenger bag, reaching inside to grab out the tripod. Amy watched as he pulled the legs out to their full length and then set it up a little ways away from the chair. After he screwed the camera on top, he looked through and made several adjustments, likely looking for the best angle for viewing.

Sheldon looked up. "Go sit in the chair."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "I don't think I'm allowed to do that until the technician comes in."

"Nonsense. I need to make sure I get the proper angle."

Amy nodded. "Ah, I see." She still wasn't sure she was allowed to sit in the chair, but her desire to have a proper video recording of the moment outweighed any concerns she had for rule breaking.

She walked the three steps over to the chair and reclined in it. It was actually kind of comfortable.

She turned her head to watch as Sheldon continued to make adjustments to the camera, when the technician walked in.

"Hello-" she started to say.

"Perfect," said Sheldon. He pointed to the chair next to Amy. "Sit in that chair. I need to make sure that I will be in the shot and not blocking Amy."

"Sheldon," Amy started. "I'm not sure that is the technician's job."

Sheldon continued to look through the camera. "Nonsense. What else is she supposed to be doing, if not helping us?"

Amy looked over at the technician. "Take it from me, it'll save us a lot of time if you simply comply with his demands."

The technician raised her eyebrows and then shrugged and walked over to sit next to Amy. "Well, as I was going to say before, my name is Stacy. Once we get started, feel free to ask as many questions as you like, and don't be afraid to let me know if you want to see something in particular."

Sheldon walked over. "Ok, we're ready. Please vacate my seat."

Stacy looked up at Sheldon in surprise. Amy rolled her eyes. "Sheldon, be nice."

He blinked at her. "I am being nice. I said 'please'."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "We've been over this many times. Simply adding please to a demand does not make it nice." Sheldon opened his mouth to reply, but Amy suspected if she didn't end this conversation soon, she would end up with an angry technician on her hands. "Let's just move on with the appointment."

Sheldon paused for a moment, and then closed his mouth and pressed his lips together. He pushed the record button and then walked over to sit in the now vacated spot next to Amy.

Stacy walked over on the other side of the lounge chair and took out the bottle of gel. Amy lifted up her shirt and the technician squirted some on the middle of her bump. Then she took a seat next to Amy, and grabbed out the wand.

She started to turn the screen away, but Amy stopped her. "Wait. I want to be able to see everything."

Stacy nodded. "So sorry. Of course you do." She smiled and moved her seat and the screen so that both Sheldon and Amy could see. Then she started moving the wand around.

At first all Amy could see was a black and white blur. Then Stacy stopped moving the wand around and pointed at the screen. A little arrow appeared on the screen, pointing at what appeared to be a white blob.

"There are your baby's feet."

Amy's heart skipped a beat and her breath hitched. It was a little difficult to make out, and she might not have identified that it was a foot if she hadn't been told, but if she squinted just right she could just make out the image of a tiny foot with even tinier toes.

She looked at Sheldon, feeling her hormones kick in, and her throat start to choke up. He was staring at the screen with a blank expression. Amy smiled, knowing that usually Sheldon's blank expressions were reserved for hiding moments of intense emotion.

She looked back at the screen, not wishing to miss anything. Stacy continued to move the wand around, letting them know each time she stopped that everything was looking normal.

When they were shown the easily visible profile of their baby's face, Amy really did start crying. Sheldon only responded with blinking and staring. The entire experience was simply magical. She reached out and grabbed Sheldon's hand, feeling nearly overwhelmed. He looked at her, blinked, and then gave a tiny smile before turning back to look at the screen. She saw his eyes dart around, and she vaguely wondered if he was trying to make sure they technician didn't miss something crucial. She turned back as well to watch as Stacy continued to move around and take measurements.

Finally, after everything else had been done, Stacy turned to the two of them and said, "And would you like to find out the sex of your baby?"

Amy looked at Sheldon, and then replied, "Yes."

Stacy smiled and then started moving the wand around again. She moved for a bit and then started frowning at the screen.

Amy immediately grew worried. Was something wrong? Why was she frowning?

Sheldon seemed to be wondering the same thing. "Why are you frowning?"

Stacy looked over. "Oh, nothing to worry about, I just can't seem to get a good view. It looks like the baby has crossed his or her legs."

Sheldon gasped. "What?" Amy looked over at him, feeling a mixture of pity, disappointment, and joy. She knew how much Sheldon hated surprises, and once she had resigned herself to finding out, Amy had begun to get excited. On the other hand, now she was a little excited at the prospect of waiting until she gave birth to find out if it was a boy or girl.

Sheldon frowned at Stacy. "Keep trying. There has to be a way to find out."

Stacy glanced at him and kept moving the wand around. "You can always try gently poking Amy's stomach to see if you can get him or her to switch position."

Sheldon immediately began poking Amy's stomach.

"Ouch!" She cried. Sheldon seemed to have forgotten that she was a person with nerve endings and not a balloon. He was all but jabbing his index finger around on her stomach.

He looked over, having the good grace to at least look guilty. "I apologize." He began poking again, gentler this time, and then leaned down towards Amy's stomach and spoke in a stern voice.

"Future Benign Overlord, this is your father. I command you to move!"

Just then, on the screen, the baby moved. Amy clapped her hands and grinned at Sheldon, until Stacy said, "Nope, sorry. He or she moved, but still has his or her legs crossed."

Sheldon frowned again and leaned back down. "I'll have none of this sass! You knew very well that we wanted you to uncross your legs. Don't think for a moment that just because you obeyed my command to move that you're not in trouble."

Amy snorted. "Sheldon, our child's brain is not developed enough for that kind of cognitive thinking. I hardly think he or she was disobeying. He or she likely moved at the poking and sound of your voice."

Sheldon looked over at Amy, afronted. "It is entirely likely that he or she was disobeying. You and I both know that you are gestating the second generation of a new species of superior, intelligent human beings." Amy looked over at Stacy, who was staring at Sheldon open mouthed. "Therefore, you can't say for sure that he or she isn't being willfully disobedient."

Sheldon once again began poking at Amy's stomach. "Listen here. You may be the future overlord of this world, but I am still your father, and I command you to uncross your legs. Obey!"

Stacy had a hand over her mouth and her shoulders were shaking. She moved the wand around with her other hand and then said, laughing, "He or she doesn't seem to have listened. It's ok, though. Sometimes insurance will allow for a second ultrasound later in the pregnancy."

Sheldon looked at Stacy incredulously. "Sometimes? I don't want to hear about what insurance companies do 'sometimes'. I want to find out today the sex of the child. We are supposed to begin our furniture shopping after this appointment. Explain to me how we will be able to do that if we don't know if we're shopping for a boy or a girl."

Amy laid a hand on Sheldon's arm. "Sheldon, calm down."

He looked over. "I will not calm down. This is an outrage! The child is not even born and already he or she is refusing to listen to me. And this very unhelpful technician seems to believe nothing can be done. Now we will not be able to purchase anything until after the baby is born." He narrowed his eyes. "Our lives will be complete and utter mayhem."

Amy looked at Stacy. "I apologize. He doesn't like surprises…" She turned to Sheldon. "I believe that regardless of whether or not we have to purchase bed sheets after the baby is born that our lives will be completely and utter mayhem."

Sheldon's only looked at her with wide eyes. Perhaps she shouldn't have said that…then again, he had best get used to the idea, since that is what would happen.

"Well," said Stacy. "Since the little one isn't cooperating, I guess we're done here."

Sheldon looked over and gasped. "What? Done? No! You have to wait!" He began poking around again on Amy's stomach.

"Ouch! Sheldon!" Amy cried. She reached out to grab his hand. He looked at her with crazy eyes and she couldn't help but feel for him. She knew how he was with surprises, especially if he felt they were unpleasant. She decided to try some damage control.

"We can always request a second ultrasound later, and in the meantime we can still purchase furniture. Wood is not gender specific."

Sheldon looked at the blank screen and then back. "But what about choosing a paint color for the room? We can't paint the room unless we know!"

Amy frowned. "Sheldon, quit acting so childish."

He crossed his arms and turned his head. "I resent the implication."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't implying it. I said it outright."

Stacy got up. "Um…I'll just…leave you two to it..." She handed Amy a long strip of paper. "Here are the pictures from today." Then she backed out the door, shutting it behind her.

Amy turned back to Sheldon. "You do realize that this entire appointment has been recorded. Do you really want our child seeing how infantile his or her father has been acting over something so trivial?"

Sheldon looked back at Amy, affronted. "Trivial? This is not trivial. This is key information, without which we are unable to move forward in our plans."

"Sheldon, might I remind you that for the vast majority of human history people had babies without knowing the sex ahead of time. I think we'll manage. Perhaps we could paint the room green. That's gender neutral."

Sheldon paused, looking down at his hands. Amy could sense some cracks in his panic. She decided to keep going.

"And we could always purchase both Batman and Batgirl sheets. And Wonder Woman and Flash bibs, and simply keep the receipts and exchange the ones we can't use…" Sheldon looked up, suspiciously. Amy plunged on. "I'll even let you have all the final decisions…on the sheets…"

Sheldon eyed her for a moment. "What if I want to purchase sheets that show the evolution of man?"

Amy raised her eyebrows. "You will have only your mother to contend with on that one…"

"And if I veto sheets with monkeys on them?"

Amy narrowed her eyes. He was truly going to play hardball then. She gritted her teeth. Sometimes she felt like she already had a child. "Then…he or she would not have sheets with monkeys on them."

Sheldon sat up straighter. "Very well. I will keep my mouth shut for now…but if we don't get a second ultrasound, I'm going to be very upset and will be writing a strongly worded letter to the insurance company."

Amy let out a sigh of relief. "I would expect nothing less from you."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Welcome back! And if you're here reading, thanks for hanging with the story! I think I say sorry every time I update, so...I'm just going to say life has been crazy, and give a blanket sorry for all future updating wait times. I'm really going to try to update sooner though. No promises, as work has been crazy and I've been job searching on top of it, but here's hoping. To bring you back into the story, last we left them Sheldon and Amy had gone to the doctor's to find out the sex of their child, only to find that said child had crossed his or her legs and refused to obey his or her father's demands to uncross them. Enjoy. :)**

**Sheldon**

This was outrageous.

Sheldon stared at the letter, feeling indignant. What did they mean they denied the request?

Sheldon immediately grabbed out his phone and dialed the number for his and Amy's insurance company.

Amy walked into the room, paint samples in hand.

"Sheldon, please come back to the baby's room. We need to choose a color. You promised."

Sheldon held up a hand. "In a moment. I am going to speak with the insurance company." He sighed as he heard an automated voice. He pressed one and then sighed again when he was taken to another menu.

Amy walked over and grabbed the letter out of Sheldon's hand. She perused it while Sheldon continued to push buttons, wondering if he was ever going to be able to speak to an actual person.

Amy looked up. "Sheldon, I think you're over-reacting."

"I'm not over-reacting. I'm simply…reacting. The reason for denial is not acceptable."

Amy blinked. "It says there is no medical reason for an additional ultrasound at this time. Given the current health crisis in our country, and the drain on the insurance companies' resources, it makes complete sense."

Sheldon opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he finally heard a real human voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello, my name is John. How can I help you today?"

"Hello, John," Sheldon began. "I am here to register a formal complaint."

John's tone of voice changed. "I see. And may I ask what your complaint is? Perhaps I can help you resolve the issue."

"I certainly hope so; otherwise I will need to speak to your supervisor. My wife has been denied a second ultrasound."

"I see. Let me look into the record for a moment here."

Sheldon waited impatiently. He hated dealing with mindless drones on telephones.

"Ok, it looks like there was no medical reason for a second ultrasound."

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Yes. But there is still a need."

"I see. There is no reason listed here. If you could let me know what it is, perhaps I can finagle something for you."

"We were unable to find out the sex of the baby at our last ultrasound because he or she refused to obey my command of uncrossing his or her legs."

"Uh huh."

Sheldon waited for further response. When none came, he rolled his eyes again and said, "We need a second ultrasound to determine the sex of the child."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm sorry, sir, but unfortunately we cannot authorize additional ultrasounds to satisfy your curiosity."

"I object!" Sheldon responded. Sheldon heard Amy gasp and grab his arm. He knew she liked it when he argued his case. She once told him she found it sexy. He stood up taller, straightening his shoulders.

"I demand that you authorize a second ultrasound."

"Sir, please calm down."

"I will not calm down. This is an outrage!" Amy shook his arm. He winked in her direction.

"How am I supposed to adequately prepare for the arrival of the infant when I don't know who to provide for? How are we supposed to pick a name? It is _essential_ that we find out the sex of the child. Surely you see this."

"Sir-" The man kept talking, but Sheldon was startled by Amy's sudden vigorous shake of his arm and her shouted "Sheldon!"

He looked at her in alarm. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

He put the phone back to his mouth. "Hang on. It would appear that a medical reason for an ultrasound is now making itself known."

"Sir-"

Sheldon put the phone back down, putting a hand on Amy's shoulder.

"What is it? Has something happened? Do you feel ill? I told you not to eat that tuna fish and jelly sandwich yesterday!"

"Sheldon be quiet!" Amy exclaimed. She grabbed his hand and put it onto her stomach. "I just felt the baby move."

Sheldon blinked in shock. Amy was beaming. "Are you sure? The last time you said that, it turned out to be gas."

Amy nodded her head. "Yes. This time I'm sure. It's definitely the baby."

Sheldon looked down at his hand. "I don't feel anything."

Amy stared at him. "Of course you don't. The baby is still too small. I only just felt him or her myself right now."

Sheldon blinked. "Then why did you put my hand on your stomach?"

Amy blinked back at him. "I don't know. It just felt right at the time."

Sheldon looked back down at his hand, feeling an emotion swell in his chest. He looked at Amy and smiled. "Fascinating."

Sheldon heard distant yelling and looked down at the phone in his hand. He put it back up to his ear.

"SIIIIR!"

"You don't have to shout." That was rude.

Sheldon heard a sigh on the other end of the line. He was about to respond when Amy plucked the phone out of his hand and said, "Sorry to have bothered you. This is Mrs. Cooper. We won't be needing to file a formal complaint."

When she hung up the phone, Sheldon gasped. "Why did you do that?"

"We don't need a second ultrasound, Sheldon. Everything is fine."

"Everything is not fine. We are going into this thing completely unprepared. We _need_ to know the sex of the child…who I might add appears to have a stubborn streak that he or she has certainly inherited from you."

Amy snorted and rolled her eyes. "Sheldon, you can't make me unhappy today." She put both her hands on the growing bump on her abdomen and smiled.

Sheldon frowned. "I wasn't attempting to make you unhappy. I was simply attempting to make myself happy."

Amy gave him a look. "Go grab the camera."

Sheldon stared and then nodded. As he walked over to the desk to grab out the video camera, Sheldon mused that, despite his initial feelings about the endeavor, these recordings had started to grow on him.

* * *

Sheldon walked out into the living room, just as Amy was pulling a lasagna out of the oven. Over time, Amy had somehow managed to change Sheldon's schedule enough to allow for a home cooked meal at least twice per week. And also somehow (he still wasn't exactly sure how) she had managed to talk him into letting her choose what to make. He had only agreed provided that she choose from a list of seven acceptable foods. She had agreed to the compromise, and ever since then, every Monday and Friday Sheldon had had to wait on tenterhooks to find out what he would be subjecting his digestive tract to. The strange part to this scenario, however, was that he didn't particularly mind. In fact, he sometimes found himself anticipating the evening meal, just to see what they would be having…but he would never let Amy know that, of course.

They were having their friends over for dinner that night and Sheldon had been looking forward to it all day as it had been several weeks since the entire gang had been together. Much to his annoyance, something had come up for at least one, if not more, members of the group which had prevented them all from spending their Friday nights with Sheldon and Amy, as was tradition.

Sheldon walked into the kitchen and nodded at Amy. "Ah, I see we're having lasagna."

Amy nodded back. "Yes. Although, I should warn you, they didn't have your specified brands of tomato sauce or mozzarella cheese, so I had to find substitutes."

Sheldon gasped. "Amy! Why did you tell me that? You know I won't be able to enjoy the lasagna now, no matter how tasty it may be…although with substitutes of the two most important ingredients, I don't see how it _can_ be tasty."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Sheldon, you do realize that if I hadn't said anything, you would never have known the difference."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows. "If that is the case, then why did you tell me anything to begin with?"

Amy shrugged. "I believe in complete culinary honesty."

Sheldon nodded. "And I appreciate it." He sighed and looked over at the lasagna. "Too bad your culinary honesty will result in my inability to enjoy tonight's meal." Even after all this time, Amy still acted surprised every time she made changes to something and expected him to like it.

There was a knock on the door.

Amy, who was in the middle of chopping tomatoes for the salad, turned her head and said, "Please get the door, Sheldon."

Sheldon walked over and answered the door. It was Howard and Bernadette.

Sheldon nodded in welcome and moved aside to let them pass. "Good evening. May I offer you a beverage?"

"I'll have a coke if you have one," said Howard. Bernadette gave him a look and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Oh, come on, Bernie. If you want to have a coke, just have a coke. Surely one can of soda isn't going to cause our baby to become a crack addict."

Bernadette rolled her eyes again. "You know what the doctor said! I already had a piece of chocolate today. I've met my allotted caffeine requirements for the day. And you _know_ I was just saying that I was craving a coke. How could you order one just to taunt me?" She started tearing up and walked quickly over to Amy. Howard just stared with a dumb look on his face.

Sheldon looked from Bernadette back over to Howard. "I see Bernadette's hormones have reached maximum levels."

"Yeah…" Howard said, and then lowered his voice. "We've reached defcon 1 on the crazy scale."

"My condolences," Sheldon said. Thankfully, Amy had learned to better control her emotions of late, and for that Sheldon was forever in her debt. Not that she didn't still have her moments…

"Do you still want the coke?"

Howard thought for a moment before replying, "Actually I'd better take a water. The only couch we have is a love seat, and while I am short, I'm not _that_ short."

Sheldon nodded. "Wise decision. I'm impressed a man of your schooling could come to such a logical conclusion."

Sheldon walked over to the kitchen to get the glass of water as Howard walked over to the couch to sit down. As he was handing Howard his glass of water, there was another knock on the door. This time it was Penny, Leonard, and little Julia. Last to arrive was Raj and Rani. Once everyone was seated and had been given a beverage, Amy announced that dinner was ready.

When Sheldon saw that she had set it up buffet style, he held up a hand. "Hold on a moment, everyone." He turned to Amy. "Why is the food not properly divided?"

Amy sighed. "Sheldon, there is more than enough food for everyone to have not just a single portion but a double. We do not need to worry about properly dividing the food."

"But what if one callous person decides that they want a triple serving and then someone else is left hungry because there was only enough for each person to have a double portion."

"Jeez, Sheldon," Penny said. "It's not like we're all going to want seconds. There's enough food here to keep a football team happy."

Sheldon glared at Penny and then noticed Julia holding her mother's hand. He turned back to Amy, pointing at Julia. "And did you take into consideration the fact that there is a tiny human who will likely not even eat a full single portion?" He shook his head. "We really much divide the food evenly."

Amy rolled her eyes, and looked around him. "Please, everyone. Help yourself."

"Amy!" Sheldon began, but was quelled by a look from Amy. Sheldon pressed his lips together, irritated, but not stupid.

Amy put a hand on his arm and spoke quietly as he surveyed the group of people before him, grabbing food willy nilly. "It'll be fine, Sheldon." Sheldon looked down into Amy's eyes and felt a bit of his anxiety leave at her smile. "Just go grab yourself a plate of food and be sure to take the exact portion you wish to eat so that you don't find yourself short of food later." He looked heavenward and rolled his eyes at her wink.

After everyone sat down, the women started talking about female stuff like pregnancy and birth, which did not interest Sheldon. He turned instead to the men of the group and ended up in a healthy, invigorating debate on the merits and detriments of the latest Call of Duty.

After about a half hour, Amy got up and came back with a second plate of food, nearly as full as her first plate. Sheldon frowned.

"Amy, are you sure you should be eating a second helping? You've gained too much weight already."

All conversation in the room stopped and Sheldon couldn't help but notice that all three men leaned as far away from Sheldon as they could.

"What the hell, Sheldon!" shouted Penny.

Sheldon looked at Amy, who had her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Did I say something wrong?"

Amy opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Penny said, "Amy looks beautiful and she's carrying _your_ baby and if she wants to have a second helping of lasagna then she can have a second helping of lasagna. It's a small price to pay for forcing her to go through labor."

Sheldon stared at Penny, completely confused. "What are you going on about?" He turned to Amy. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

Amy nodded. "I believe I do." She turned to the rest of the group, all of whom except Penny had their mouths hanging open. "I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Sheldon was not calling me fat."

Sheldon gasped and turned to Penny. "You thought I was calling Amy fat? That's ridiculous!"

"Well, it sure as hell sounded like it to me," Penny said. Bernadette nodded vigorously and Rani just gave Sheldon an uneasy look.

Amy continued. "No, in fact, Sheldon was merely reminding me of an earlier gripe. You see, at the beginning of this pregnancy he and I mapped out the week by week weight gain needed to achieve optimal growth of the infant without compromise my health as well. Earlier today after stepping on the scale, I noted that I had gained two extra pounds than our plan accounted for and had stated that I was not happy about it. Sheldon was merely reminding me that it might not be prudent to eat a second helping, given that I was unhappy with the results of my weekly weigh-in." She turned to Sheldon. "For which I am grateful."

He nodded at her. "Of course." Then he turned to Penny, feeling indignant. "I can't believe you'd think me so callous. Amy is carrying our _child_ for Pete's sake!"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. If any other man said that to any other woman, there would have been hell to pay."

Sheldon rolled his eyes. "Well, Amy and I are not 'any other' couple."

Penny snorted. "Obviously."

Sheldon heard Bernadette whisper to Howard, "Don't you get any ideas. I don't care if I look like your mother; you're not ever to tell me I've gained too much weight."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Howard replied. Then he turned to Sheldon and said in a tone which reeked of sarcasm, "Thanks for that."

Amy walked back over to the kitchen and then came back to sit down, salad in hand. "I thought perhaps it would be best to limit my second helping to salad."

"Are you sure it's wise to eat a second helping at all?"

Amy looked at Sheldon with raised eyebrows.

Sheldon cleared his throat and went back to eating his own dinner. As he put another bite of lasagna in his mouth he snorted derisively. _As if I'd ever call Amy fat…Penny can be so awkward sometimes…_

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Fingers crossed I can update this sooner than a month from now!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Holy smokes...I can't believe it's been close to 2 months since this poor fic was updated. I'm not sure I have any good excuses. I was finishing another fic, and then you all told me to take a break and I might have taken you too seriously. haha! Well, here's hoping you're all still reading. Last we left them, Amy was about 20 or so weeks, had just felt the baby move, and was inadvertently called fat by Sheldon. (Even though neither Sheldon nor Amy thought his had said so).**

**Amy**

Amy walked, or the more recently accurate "waddled", out into the living room and looked at Sheldon, who was still typing on his computer.

She sighed. "Sheldon, please stop whatever it is that you are doing. You know we'll be late if we don't leave soon." She walked over to grab her purse, while Sheldon sighed and then shut his laptop.

As he stood up and put his messenger bag over his head, he continued his earlier protestations. "Amy, I really don't see why this is necessary. We've researched everything there is to know about labor, delivery, hospital stays, and breastfeeding. These quote, unquote classes are going to be nothing but a waste of several perfectly good Wednesday nights; which, I might add, is New Comic Book Night and I will now have to rely on the likes of Leonard to procure my new comic books."

Amy gave Sheldon a look and then patted his arm. "I'm sure it will be fine. After all, you probably won't have much time for things like New Comic Book Night after the baby comes anyway."

Sheldon snapped his head towards Amy with a look of pure horror. "You can't be serious."

_Well, I suppose now, when he has approximately eight weeks left to prepare, is better than later,_ she thought to herself as she nodded. "Yes. I'm being quite serious."

"But…but…I've _always_ gone to New Comic Book Night," Sheldon whined as he opened the door and gestured for Amy to go through it.

She walked out and waited for him to lock the door. "Sheldon, this can't seriously come as a surprise to you. You know how much time rearing a child takes. You've thoroughly researched it."

Sheldon pulled the key out of the lock and they started walking down the stairs. "Of course. I simply did not factor in that New Comic Book Night would be affected at all. It has remained one of the few constants in my life in an ever changing world." He said the last part a little sadly.

Amy linked her arm through Sheldon's, to better keep her balance as they walked down the stairs. Her stomach was now big enough that she could no longer see her feet when she looked down, making the trek down the stairs somewhat precarious. She didn't recall Penny getting this big so fast…

"I think you might be acting a bit melodramatic," Amy said. "It's not like you won't ever go again. Just…probably not every week." Sheldon sighed but didn't respond. Amy felt a small touch of pity for him. "Think of it this way; you'll probably be too tired in the beginning to care anyway."

Sheldon turned his head down and gave her a look. "That's hardly comforting."

Amy used her other hand to pat his arm. "I'm sorry the truth is not comforting."

Sheldon merely rolled his eyes.

* * *

When they arrived at the hospital, there were several other couples milling around and a woman at the entrance who asked for their names. There was a refreshment table in the corner and Amy eagerly walked over to it. Ever since she had hit her third trimester, she had had difficulty eating large meals, the result of which was that she found herself snacking every hour or two. Since it had been nearly two and a half hours since her last half a sandwich, she was very hungry.

Sheldon trailed behind her as she grabbed a paper plate and loaded up on cheese cubes and celery sticks, with ranch on the side. There was no seating that they could see, so they simply stood in a corner by themselves, Sheldon holding Amy's water while she munched on the celery sticks and dipped the cheese cubes in the ranch (A brilliant idea…why had she not thought of it before?).

After several minutes had passed a woman walked to the center of the room, clapped her hands three times, and then said loudly, "Thank you, everyone for coming tonight. Why don't we get started?"

As the room quieted down, everyone turning to look at the woman in the center, she smiled. "Alright, my name is Cynthia, but you can call me Cindy. I want to thank you for choosing to have your baby at our fine hospital. We hope that you will enjoy your stay here…whenever that may be."

"That's hardly an encouraging welcome," Sheldon said, just under his breath. Amy elbowed him and glared. When she looked back towards Cindy, it was to find that she had paused and was looking at two of them. Thankfully, after a brief moment, Cindy continued on with her obviously pre-written speech. She went on to describe the evening's activities, which would include a tour of the hospital and a birthing video.

"Well then," Cindy said, after having everyone introduce themselves, "shall we get started?"

Amy felt Sheldon shake her shoulder, but she continued to stare in horror at the now blank screen at the front of the room.

"Amy?"

She turned to look at Sheldon. "I've changed my mind."

Sheldon frowned, looking confused. "About what?"

Amy gestured towards the screen, ignoring Cindy as she began discussing the very intimate details of the film they had just been subjected to. "Birth."

Sheldon blinked at her, still looking confused. "What do you mean you've changed your mind? I believe the point at which you could change your mind is well behind us."

Amy grabbed her bag and began rummaging through it. "We have to call the doctor. I will simply demand a scheduled cesarean section."

"It's Amy and Sheldon, isn't it?"

Amy and Sheldon both looked towards the front of the room, where Cindy was standing and smiling at them.

Sheldon frowned slightly. "Yes. That is our names. Although we would both prefer Doctor and Doctor Cooper."

Cindy clasped her hands in front of her. "Wonderful," she exclaimed, seeming to ignore Sheldon's second statement. "It would seem you two are having a lively discussion regarding the video. Would you care to discuss?"

Amy said "yes" at the same time Sheldon said "no". He looked over at Amy in shock, but Amy stood up, feeling slightly panicked, with only the slight realization that she was likely being irrational.

"I would like to say that that video was highly inappropriate to be showing to women who are a mere two months or less away from delivering their child."

Cindy smiled again, annoying Amy. "It's perfectly normal to be frightened of birth. It can be a scary process-"

"A scary process?" Amy said. She pointed towards the screen. "That was not scary. It was horrific."

"Now Amy, birth is not horrific, it's wonderful."

Amy crossed her arms. "Have you ever given birth?"

Cindy's mouth fell open for a moment before she seemed to regain her composure and smiled back at Amy. "I have not, but I have been present at well over one hundred births-"

"Then I don't believe you are qualified to state whether or not it's horrific."

Amy felt Sheldon tapping her arm. "Amy, I believe this is one of those times where you behaving irrationally."

Amy shook his hand away. "I am most certainly _not_ behaving irrationally. It is perfectly rational to be angry at being subjected to such horror."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, looking surprised. "From the outset of this endeavor, you have done rigorous research on the subject of birth, including everything that can go wrong. And that's not to mention questioning Penny, of all people, on numerous occasions about what the process is like. I find it extremely surprising that this one video has produced such a violent response."

"Did you _watch_ it?" Amy hissed back, feeling betrayed by Sheldon's lack of sympathy.

"Naturally. But this isn't the first birthing video I've watched, and frankly, I'm shocked to find that you have never watched one prior to this evening. I had assumed you had included that in your own research, or I would have upon having you view one prior this evening. It honestly never crossed my mind that you would leave out such a glaringly obvious part of the research on the subject."

Amy crossed her arms, glaring and feeling defensive. "I have been present at the birth of numerous primates throughout the course of my career. I simply assumed that the process would be very similar."

Sheldon pressed his lips together as he thought. "Hmm…well, really the process isn't that different."

Amy snorted and pointed towards the front of the room. "_That_, was completely different. Primates don't scream…as loudly…and…and…there's not so much…body fluid."

Sheldon nodded. "I'll grant you, that it was certainly a little disconcerting to see how messy the process is the first time I watched one."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Yes, and speaking of messy, why aren't you freaking out about the unsanitary nature of the whole thing?"

Sheldon shrugged. "I'll grant you that the thought does make me a touch queasy, but as it is not occurring in my household, nor will I be responsible for cleaning it up, or touching it in any way, I was able to look past it." He looked thoughtful for a moment before turning back towards Amy. "Besides, I'm given to understand that in the moment, neither parent even notices the mess."

Amy snorted. "I find that highly unlikely, especially for you."

"Ahem. If I may interrupt."

Amy and Sheldon both looked towards the front of the room. The entire rest of the class was watching the two of them with open mouths. Cindy smiled, once again irritating Amy.

"Amy, dear, as I was saying before, it's perfectly normal to be feeling some anxiety regarding birth. It certainly is a messy and painful process." Amy huffed and rolled her eyes at the understatement. "But I believe Sheldon, if I understand him correctly, is correct. Most parents are so swept up in the magical moment of meeting their baby for the first time, that they forget about the pain and the mess." She smiled even wider. "I've been there over one hundred times. I've seen it happen every time."

Amy blinked at Cindy for a moment, at a loss for words, before she grabbed Sheldon's hand and began tugging. "Come on. We're leaving."

Sheldon resisted a bit. "But we've already paid for all six sessions."

"Then it was money wasted," replied Amy, continuing to tug.

"Oh now," said Cindy, rushing over to them. "Surely it wasn't that bad. And you still have so much more to learn."

Amy turned to glare at Cindy before looking back at Sheldon. "If we go now, then you'll still be able to reach the comic book store before it closes."

That appeared to be enough incentive for Sheldon to forget the cost of the classes, as he immediately got up and began walking towards the door with quick purposeful strides. Amy did her best to keep up with him, but the added bulging in her middle made it more difficult to walk quickly. Luckily he seemed to remember her as he reached the door, because, rather than waltz through it, he stopped and held it open for her. As she walked through, Sheldon said, "I told you these classes would be a waste of time."

Amy rolled her eyes and kept walking.

* * *

Penny sighed as Julia bumped into her leg, causing her to smear nail polish all over her toe.

"Julia, sweetie, you made Mommy mess up her toe."

Julia just giggled and then toddled off in the direction of one of her myriad of toys.

Amy watched the scene with a small smile on her face, a hand unconsciously resting on top of her stomach. She had come over to Penny's the day following the disastrous birthing class for an impromptu girl's night.

Penny continued their conversation, already in progress, as she grabbed for the nail polish remover. "So, you just stormed out?"

Amy's smile left her face as she pressed her lips together in irritation. "Yes."

Penny looked up as she wet a cotton ball with some nail polish remover. "Was it really that bad?"

Amy raised her eyebrows. "It was horrific."

Penny held her foot in one hand and then swiped the cotton ball over her toe with the other. "Well, that doesn't make sense. Were they showing you what could go wrong?"

Amy frowned in concentration. "I don't believe so. I believe it was considered an average birth."

Penny looked up, surprised. "Then how was it horrific?"

"Have you seen a birth?"

Penny raised her eyes. "Amy, I've _given_ birth."

Amy nodded. "Right. Then you know what I'm talking about."

"Um, Sweetie?" Penny replied. "No I don't."

"If I recall correctly, you said once, when referring to birth, 'after you get over the part where you want to die'. How is that not horrific?"

Penny nodded slowly. "Yes, I did say that." She paused, tossing the cotton ball on a napkin and picking back up the nail polish bottle. She looked up, seeming to stare at nothing in particular. "But after the baby is born you sort of forget all about that…I mean…it's sort of a magical moment, you know?" She looked over at Amy then, who found herself suddenly riveted.

"Really?" Amy asked.

Penny smiled, and stared off again. "Yeah…I mean…it's your baby. You've been feeling her move around; you've been reading gossip magazines to her; you've been promising her ponies and princesses and prince charmings…" Penny trailed off, her eyes now moving towards Julia, who was currently bashing a My Little Pony and Barbie together on the floor.

Amy blinked. "I haven't done any of that…I mean, besides feeling him or her move. I don't know if I'm having a girl, and while I personally have no problems with little boys playing with My Little Pony, Sheldon is very old fashioned about such things. I suspect it's the lingering Texas upbringing in him."

Penny snorted and then looked back over at Amy. "I meant that's what I did." She waved an arm towards Amy and then turned back to painting her nails. "But don't you do anything like that?"

"Like what?"

Penny laughed. "I don't know, talk to your baby."

Amy nodded. "Oh yes. Sheldon and I both speak frequently to the child in question. There is solid research which states that it's an integral part in forming attachments to begin speaking with your child while still in the womb. We also make sure to have the child listen to a selection of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mario."

Penny looked up. "Mario? Please tell me that's some sort of classical composer."

Amy shook her head. "No. It's the music from the video games."

Penny raised her eyebrows. "Why would you have the kid listen to Mario music?"

Amy shrugged. "Sheldon insisted. He said great video game players are born, not made."

Penny rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Only Sheldon…" With a few more strokes of the brush, Penny finished her nails, putting the bottle down and inspecting her toes. "Done! What do you think?" She turned to look at Amy.

Amy leaned forward, as much as she was able, to inspect Penny's toenails. "That is certainly a bright shade of purple…and very glittery."

Penny wiggled her toes. "Yep. It's nice right?"

Amy looked over. "As long as you like it, then yes, it's nice."

Penny rolled her eyes and wiggled her toes again. "So, what're you going to do about the class?"

Amy was slightly taken aback by the abrupt return to their earlier discussion. "We're not returning, of course."

Penny looked over at her. "Really?...Are you sure about that?"

Amy nodded. "Yes." Then she frowned in doubt at Penny's tone. "I mean…we don't need them. We've done all our research."

Penny gave Amy an uneasy face. "Well…I don't know. Leonard and I did a lot of researching – and I mean a _lot_ of researching – and we still found the classes really helpful. And you know, it's nice sometimes to talk with other women."

"But I have you."

Penny smiled and reached over to pat Amy's arm. "I know, Sweetie, but sometimes it's nice to talk and complain about your aches and pains with someone else who's going through the same thing."

"But I have Bernadette."

Penny sighed. "Look. You're just going to have to trust me. Leonard and I found the classes really valuable…Especially Leonard. In fact, he kept annoying me in the delivery room with all the 'remember was Jacqualin said.'" Amy looked at Penny in confusion. "That was the name of our instructor."

Amy nodded. "Oh, I see." She thought for a moment. Had she and Sheldon been too hasty? Perhaps they should give the classes another chance…

Penny interrupted Amy's thoughts. "Just think about it."

Amy nodded. "Of course. Thank you, Penny."

Suddenly there was a loud crash. Penny gasped and ran over to Julia, who was laughing at the mountain of books falling from the projectile pony launched in its direction.

"Pony fwies!"

"Julia!" Penny said as she scooped her daughter up. "No! You know you're not supposed to be throwing things." Penny turned her head and raised her voice. "Leonard! Julia is throwing things again!"

Leonard walked out a few moments later and Penny frowned at him. "I told you not to try teaching her bocce ball…"

Amy watched the family with a smile on her face, looking down at her own stomach. She really couldn't wait.

* * *

Amy lay on her side in bed that night, staring at the wall, thinking about what Penny had said. She had been feeling tired and so had gone to bed earlier than usual. Sheldon was still in the living room working. Amy glanced at the clock and discovered he'd likely be coming to bed soon. She had hoped to get some extra sleep in, but instead had found herself turning from one side to the other, trying to find a comfortable position, something which was becoming more and more difficult. To top it off, now she realized she had to urinate; something which she did with annoying regularity these days.

With a sigh, Amy threw off the covers and made her way to the bathroom. When she came out, she saw Sheldon rubbing his eyes and then returning to look at the screen.

She waddled over to him. "Sheldon, it's seven minutes past your usual bedtime, and you appear to be tired. Perhaps you should call it a night and come to bed."

Sheldon looked over at Amy, opened his mouth in what Amy assumed was protest, before shutting it and nodding, surprising her. "Yes. You're probably correct. I should go to bed." He quickly saved his work and then shut off the laptop. Amy walked back into the bedroom as Sheldon put on his pajamas and brushed his teeth, joining her a few minutes later in their bed.

Amy was on her side facing him as he got into bed and shut out the light, immediately placing his hands on his chest and closing his eyes. She chewed her lip, still thinking about her conversation with Penny. Perhaps they had better continue with the classes…But what if they were a waste of time? What if Amy wasn't able to give birth? What if she didn't make it through labor? What if she had to use drugs when she didn't want to? What if she had to be induced? What if she was a terrible mother?

Without properly thinking it through, Amy suddenly blurted out, "Do you think I can do it?"

She saw Sheldon open his eyes in the darkness and turn his head towards her. "I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific."

Amy bit her lip, already feeling silly for voicing her concerns aloud. When the silence extended itself, Sheldon said, "Do I think you can do what?"

Amy thought for another moment, trying to frame her thoughts into something coherent to verbalize. Initially she had been contemplating labor, but now that the thought had entered her mind, she _was_ wondering if she would be an adequate mother. Just a few short months ago such a thought would have had her snorting derisively at herself. She had never before doubted that she and Sheldon would be outstanding parents. They were nothing if not thorough in their research on the subject of parenting, and in fact, Sheldon had spent the past several months developing flow charts for any and all situations which may arise in the first five years of their child's life. And she highly doubted that there was anyone better qualified, genetically and intellectually speaking, than they were to procreate.

"Amy?" Sheldon now turned fully onto his side, looking at her.

Amy looked all around, finally locking eyes with Sheldon in the dark. "Do you think I can be a mother?"

Sheldon frowned in confusion. "That's a strange question. The proof that you can be a mother is currently dwelling inside your uterus. You _will_ be a mother."

Amy swallowed. "No…what I mean is…do you think I can be a _good_ mother?"

Sheldon raised his eyebrows now in surprise. "Why on earth would you ask that?"

Amy shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know."

"Well, it's a ridiculous question."

Amy frowned, feeling hurt. "I don't believe it is. It's a perfectly normal question."

"No, it's ridiculous. How can you not believe you would be an excellent mother? I've never met a woman more qualified to be a mother. Beverly Hofstadter comes close, but does not quite hit the mark."

Amy blinked in shock at Sheldon's statement. "You think I'm the most qualified woman you've ever met?"

Sheldon frowned. "Of course. Your IQ is only outmatched by mine, through no fault of your own, as I am truly one of a kind." Amy rolled her eyes. "You're hygiene is impeccable; the only person more thorough than you is myself; you have spent months preparing, reading books and every website available on the subject of anything and everything that can happen during labor and for the first year. In short, you have ensured that you are the most highly qualified woman on the planet to birth children." Amy felt a swelling in her heart. "Frankly, I'm surprised that you don't believe so."

Amy blinked at Sheldon for a moment before leaning awkwardly forward and kissing him. When she pulled back, she smiled. "Thank you."

Sheldon blinked back at her. "You're welcome."

Amy stared back at Sheldon for a moment, feeling happy that he had such confidence in her.

"I think we should go back to the class."

Sheldon frowned. "Whatever for?"

Amy grabbed one of Sheldon's hands and began playing with it. "I think it would be helpful."

"You're not making sense. Just yesterday evening you claimed that it was the biggest waste of money you had ever spent."

Amy spread Sheldon's fingers apart with her own and laced her fingers through, clasping his hand. "Penny said she found it very helpful, as did Leonard."

Sheldon snorted. "Oh, well, that's hardly a recommendation."

Amy shrugged. "Well, I think we should keep going."

Sheldon sighed. "What can I do that will get you to give up this folly?"

Amy blinked. "Nothing."

Sheldon sighed even louder. "Fine. I guess I'll have to let Leonard know in the morning that he's going to be responsible for picking up my new comic books again."

Amy smiled at him. "Thank you."

She let go of his hand and turned over to go to sleep, feeling much better about her future as a mother.

**A/N: Thanks so much for putting up with me and my writing! :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thank you again for your patience and once again I apologize. Let's just say life has been too busy to foster a whole lot of creativity. I wrote this chapter about 200 words at a time. I think, given how long it's been since I first started this, that it bears reminding that Raj has been cured of his selective mutism in this story. :) Also, this story is for Moyra, for a couple of reasons...I wonder if she'll know why. ;)**

**Sheldon**

Today had not been Sheldon's day.

First, there had been the fire drill at work this morning, which, aside from being unexpected and thus annoying, had interrupted the progress he had been making on his work, which had had him metaphorically, and literally, scratching his head for well over a month. He had tried to bring a pen and paper with him to continue his train of thought, but no matter how loud he yelled at whichever coworker felt the need to interrupt him, there was always another annoying person waiting to take their place. Sheldon _really_ needed to make progress on this problem before the baby came, in a mere two weeks. Time was ticking, and now he had wasted nearly an entire day simply trying to regain his train of thought. And by the time he had finally managed to regain his ground, it had been time to leave work. He had nearly considered simply staying late, but, as it was both Wednesday and the last day of their birthing classes, he knew Amy would metaphorically, and possibly literally, kill him should he miss it.

And second, the cafeteria had run out of his favorite cookies. On any other day this would simply be annoying, but given his frustrating morning, the news had only served to make the rest of his day that much more hellacious.

And now all he had to look forward to this evening was the slight reprieve known as dinner before being subjected to further annoyance and tedium in their "class".

Sheldon walked through the door and sniffed appreciatively, stomach rumbling.

"Hello," Amy said as she grabbed a couple of water bottles from the refrigerator.

"Hello," Sheldon returned, setting his messenger bag down and walking over to drop down into his spot and rubbing his eyes.

Amy waddled slowly over and handed him his water. "How was your day?"

Sheldon took the bottle as Amy tried and failed to gracefully sit down next to him. He had been threatened by Penny enough to keep him from ever saying so, but he secretly couldn't help but think that Amy's stomach was large enough to be carrying twins, though, of course, they already knew there was only one child. Not that he particularly cared either way what size Amy's stomach was, but rather he found it interesting, and was normally just the type of observation that he would share with Amy.

"My day was horrendous."

Amy twisted the cap off her water bottle and gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry to hear that. What in particular made it horrendous?"

Sheldon was about to launch into a detailed description of his day when suddenly, Amy held up her hand. "No, wait. I do wish to hear about the awful day you've had, but since we are pressed for time, perhaps it would be best if you went and brought over our dinner so that we can eat while we discuss our day."

Sheldon sighed and nodded, going over to grab the food that Amy had apparently ordered. When he saw that it was Thai food, he felt just a bit of his stress ease. Without even knowing that he had had a bad day, Amy had somehow managed to order the very food that he wanted that evening.

As he brought the boxes over and set them down, he proceeded to regale Amy with the day he had had. It took well over ten minutes of non-stop talking, at the expense of a cold meal, but at the end of his diatribe, Amy gave him another sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry your day was not to your liking. It is simply unacceptable for the cafeteria not to have properly stocked cookies. I can only assume they had no excuse, such as backorder due to a Salmonella outbreak at the factory which produces the cookies."

Sheldon shook his head. "I made sure to ask, and no, they simply forgot to order the cookies."

Amy sighed and shook her head. "Perhaps you should lodge a formal complaint."

Sheldon gave Amy a look. "Please. That was the first thing I did."

Amy patted Sheldon's arm. "Well, if it's any consolation, I purchased some chocolate chip cookies from the bakery today."

Sheldon smiled at Amy. "It's not, but thank you just the same." Amy shrugged and put another bite into her mouth.

Sheldon would have been content to remain silent the rest of the meal, but Amy apparently had other plans, choosing now to bring up what had become a sore subject of discussion.

"Sheldon, we have to choose names."

Sheldon sighed, again thinking that today was simply not his day. Over the past several weeks he and Amy had entered into many such discussions regarding the name of their future child, and every discussion had ended the same, with both parties upset, and usually Sheldon retreating to his computer to get away from the conflict.

It would appear that, while he and Amy were in agreement on most things, when it came to the naming of their prodigy Amy was extremely stubborn. He, of course, was merely trying to spare their child the pain and anguish of being named after a biologist, when he or she had the opportunity to be named after a notable physicist.

"Fine," Sheldon said, dreading the upcoming conversation. "But only if you will at least _consider_ the name Lise."

Amy shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Amy!" Sheldon said, already exasperated. "I fail to see why you won't consider it. Lise Meitner's discoveries helped lead to the invention of the atomic bomb. Without her, we might very will _still_ be fighting World War II."

"Yes," Amy replied, "naming our daughter after one of the persons responsible for a weapon of mass destruction sounds like a very good idea."

"I'm glad you think so," Sheldon said, feeling appeased.

Amy gave him a look. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh." Sheldon looked away. "But why do you protest so vehemently?"

Amy shrugged. "I don't know. Lise just strikes me as the name of some sort of international spy who would attempt to destroy the family of anyone who got in her way."

Sheldon blinked at Amy. "I don't know where you'd get that idea."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "It doesn't matter. Lise is out."

Sheldon rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in surrender. "Fine."

Amy smiled. "Good. Now. What about Helen?"

Sheldon thought. It was a sensible enough name, but he simply did not see any daughter of his being named Helen. He shook his head. "No."

Amy sighed this time. "Helen Neville is a notable neurobiologist who is responsible for a number of significant studies in human brain development."

Sheldon put a finger up to his lip. "Hmm…I don't like Helen, but I would not be opposed to Neville."

Amy crossed her arms. "We are not naming our child after a Harry Potter character…What about John? John Hughlings Jackson was the first person to infer the organization of the motor cortex."

"Hmm…" John was yet another sensible name. And yet it reminded him too much of Sunday School. He shook his head. "No. Much too biblical. How about Stephen."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Oh, John is too biblical but Stephen isn't?"

Sheldon blinked. "Correct. John wrote several books of the bible. Stephen merely appears in a few passages…and besides, I wasn't thinking of the bible. I was thinking of Stephen Hawking."

"Yes, well I wasn't talking about John from the bible, either. I was talking about John Hughlings Jackson." As Sheldon opened his mouth to reply Amy held up her hand. "I'm afraid we will have to once again reconvene at another time. If we don't leave soon, we'll be late for class."

Sheldon slumped. He didn't want to go. "Amy, really I think we should forgo the class. You are far too pregnant to be driving anyway. It's a wonder you can even reach the steering wheel."

Amy nodded. "You're absolutely correct. That's why I asked Raj if he could take us."

Sheldon blinked in surprise. "What?"

Just then there was a knock at the door. Amy waddled over to answer it, revealing Raj.

Raj smiled at Amy and then Sheldon. "Alright. Let's go learn about birth!"

Sheldon sighed. _Definitely_ not his night.

* * *

As expected, Sheldon was largely bored during the evening's proceedings. It was only Amy's constant elbow in his side that prevented him from correcting Cindy on her many grammatical errors.

Of course, Raj seemed to be enjoying himself. Sheldon looked at him wryly as he put his hand up, yet again.

Cindy, however, also seemed to be losing her enthusiasm at Raj's line of questioning. "I'm sorry, Raj, but I'm afraid we will have to move on. If you still have questions, please feel free to…look them up on google when you get home."

Raj put his hand down and slouched down in disappointment. "But how will I know when to push?"

Sheldon looked at Raj, confused. "You won't be the one pushing, so the question is irrelevant…not to mention inappropriate."

Raj merely shrugged.

"Alright, everyone," Cindy said, "tonight we're going to be doing something a bit different and a whole lot of fun. Gentlemen," seeing Raj also standing up, Cindy qualified her statement," Soon-to-be-fathers," Raj dejectedly sat back down, "if you'll please join me at the front of the room."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows and looked at Amy, hoping she would let him stay in his seat. Amy merely shook her head and pointed. "Go on." She smiled at him. "Maybe it'll be fun."

Sheldon gave Amy a look. "I highly doubt that," he replied, sighing as he got up. "Why can't Raj take my place?"

"Because he is not the soon-to-be-father," Amy replied, logically.

Sheldon walked up slowly to the front of the class with the other men, all of whom looked equally ill-at-ease. He took his spot next to a bona fide hippie, complete with Birkenstocks, and crossed his arms.

Once she saw that all the men had all made their way up to the front, Cindy reached behind her and pulled out a contraption, looking somewhat like a harness with a strange bulge in the center. She smiled. "Alright, gentlemen, tonight we're going to have a bit of fun. These are fake pregnancy bellies." A few of the men shuffled on their feet, giving pleading looks towards their wives. Sheldon, however, was completely baffled. What was the purpose of such a contraption?

Cindy continued speaking. "You're going to wear these bellies for ten minutes-"

"Excuse me," Sheldon interrupted, throwing his hand in the air.

Cindy looked surprised, but inclined her head. "Yes, Sheldon?"

"What is the purpose of this ridiculous exercise?"

Cindy gave Sheldon a smile. "Well, so that you can understand what life is like for your partner."

Sheldon frowned. "And how is wearing a harness with a bulge in the front supposed to do that?"

"By giving you an idea what it's like to carry around a baby."

Sheldon snorted. "Wearing a harness is hardly like carrying a child in a uterus."

Cindy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them again, and put on another smile. "Yes, I understand that it won't be the same-"

"Then I fail to see what the purpose is." After the day he had had, the very last thing Sheldon wanted to do was walk around like a fool in some stupid class he and Amy hadn't needed to attend in the first place.

"It's meant to foster empathy for your partner."

Sheldon frowned in confusion. "But in order to be empathetic, you have to be able to imagine what a given situation is like for the other person. As I don't have a uterus, there is no way for me to become empathetic. At best, I can be sympathetic, but I don't need to look like a ridiculous fool to do that."

"Sheldon." Sheldon looked over to where Amy was sitting. "In order to expedite the evening's proceedings, perhaps you should swallow your pride and simply put on the harness."

"But Amy-" Sheldon started to plead.

Amy held up a hand. "The sooner you comply, the sooner the class will be over."

Sheldon opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it as he thought about Amy's point. He eyed the contraption, looked at the clock, at Amy, and then back at the contraption, weighing his options. On the one hand, he had had a terrible day already and going along with this stupid "exercise" would only serve to make it worse. On the other hand, if he simply complied, then he would likely avoid an angry Amy (something he usually avoided at all costs). But then again, Raj was here to witness the entire scene and thus he, Sheldon, could, and likely would, be subjected to ridicule at the hands of his friends. Of course, there was always the damage to his lumbar region to consider, should he refuse and be forced to sleep on his and Amy's couch.

Sheldon sighed, slumping his shoulders in defeat as he made his decision. Angry Amy and a night on the couch trumped bad day and ridicule. "Fine."

Cindy, who seemed to have been waiting for his response before continuing, smiled brightly. "Excellent! Then perhaps you'd like to be our first volunteer!"

Sheldon gave one last look at Amy, but she merely shooed him towards Cindy. He sighed and walked slowly over towards his doom, grabbing the harness and attaching it to himself. He frowned at the weight on his front. Perhaps he should have considered the potential misalignment of his lumbar region from the so-called pregnancy belly when he had been considering his options…

He walked over to where he was standing before, putting both hands on his lower back. When he heard giggling, he looked over to see Amy with the video camera out, and Raj waving brightly at him.

He frowned. "Put that thing away. I don't want our child to see his or her father in such a ridiculous state."

Amy turned the camera on herself. "Dear Child. I would like to welcome you to the final day of our birthing class. I, Amy Farrah Cooper, am here to bear witness of the following." Amy turned the camera on Sheldon, who rolled his eyes and began tugging at the straps on his shoulders. Dear lord. His neck was already killing him. And that's not to mention the strap currently digging into his L2 and L3 vertebrae. Sheldon leaned backwards slightly, trying to take the pressure off, when he saw a flash in the corner of his eye.

He looked over to see Raj with his iPhone out, giggling to himself and tapping buttons.

Sheldon began to panic. "Raj. What are you doing?"

Raj deftly tapped his index finger on his phone. "And send." He looked at Sheldon with a triumphant smile. "I'm only emailing a picture of you to our friends."

Sheldon narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, ready to send a scathing reply in Raj's direction, when he saw Amy wiggling her fingers.

"Sheldon, kindly remember that whatever your next words are will be heard by our child in his or her future."

Sheldon snapped his mouth shut, feeling irritated. Perhaps the silent approach was best. Yes. That way he could retain his dignity. He nodded once to himself and then turned to watch as Cindy humiliated all of the other men, Raj excluded, in the class.

Sheldon unwillingly caught the eye of the hippie next to him, who proceeded to lean over and whisper, "You know, in a way this is good. It really evens out this sexist generation we're living in. Now we know what it's like to be women."

Sheldon blinked at the man. "I weep for the future."

* * *

"Oh, Sheldon, come on. It wasn't that bad," Amy said as they walked through the door into their apartment.

"How can you say that?" Sheldon replied. "I am a man of science-" he began, falling back on his favorite point of logic.

"Yes. And that was an experiment," Amy said, smirking at him as she waddled over to put her purse down.

Sheldon pressed his lips together and walked past her to set down his own messenger bag. "That was not an experiment, and if you think it is, then I will seriously have to rethink your status as a scientist."

Amy gasped. "Sheldon-"

He held up a hand. "And furthermore," he said as he turned to face her, before stopping in his tracks. He blinked at the scene in front of him. "Amy…why are you all wet?"

Amy's eyes were big as she looked down at herself and then back up at Sheldon. "I believe my water just broke."

Sheldon's ears started ringing and he blinked as he tried to process this new bit of information.

"But you're only thirty-eight weeks."

"I know."

"Then you must be mistaken." Sheldon felt his heart rate begin to increase

"I'm not mistaken."

Sheldon started to breathe faster. "But this is your first child."

"I know."

"But all the literature I read made it appear as if it was more common for a woman's first child to arrive _after_ the due date."

"I know…although to refer to a pregnancy forum as 'literature' is a bit of an over-exaggeration don't you think?"

"But…but…" Sheldon began to feel distinctly light-headed and looked from Amy's stomach, where he had been staring, up to her eyes. She hadn't moved since he first turned around, but as he looked at her now, a smile lit up her face.

"Sheldon…we're having a baby."

Sheldon blinked for a few moments. "Oh dear," he said, just as he blacked out.

**A/N: Thank you dearly for reading. Believe it or not, that pregnancy belly thing is a real thing they do. My bestie told me about it...oh how I wish I had been able to see Mr. Bestie with a fake belly...But I digress. So, I think this might be fairly obvious, but there are 2 more chapters after this one before the end. Thank's as usual for reading and for your patience and the fact that you keep coming back! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thank you for your patience! I have no inventive excuse for the tardiness of this chapter. I've simply been a combination of sick, tired, and/or busy. But you only have to put up with me for one more chapter after this anyway. ;)**

**Amy**

Amy stared at Sheldon on the floor and then looked down at herself. She was standing in the middle of a puddle with wet, knee-high socks and shoes on, her husband was currently passed out on the floor, and yet, she couldn't move.

Well, theoretically she could move, but Amy found herself rooted to the spot, as the enormity of the situation hit her. She and Sheldon were about to become parents.

At that thought, Amy smiled even wider than she had been, which she hadn't thought possible, and found that her limbs were ready to listen to her brain's insistence that they move.

She stepped away from the puddle, waddling over to the bar stools and taking off her shoes and socks. She then waddled over to Sheldon, still smiling, and, being unable to bend over properly, used her foot to shake his shoulder.

"Sheldon. Wake up."

Sheldon's eyes popped open. He blinked three times at the ceiling and then turned to look at Amy.

"What happened?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"My water broke and you fainted," Amy replied.

Sheldon didn't respond, but continued to lie on the floor, turning his eyes back towards the ceiling and blinking. Amy waited, knowing her husband's brain was likely in overdrive.

After several moments, Sheldon sat straight up and nearly yelled, "We have to get you to a hospital!" He immediately leapt up and ran towards the door, proceeding to slip in the puddle left by Amy, flying into the air and landing on his back in such a way that Amy was reminded of those amusing cartoons in which the character slipped on a banana peel.

Amy immediately waddled over. "Sheldon! Are you alright?"

Sheldon sat up, seeming unharmed, frowning. "Why is there a puddle on the floor?"

"Because my water broke."

Sheldon's eyes bugged out of his head and he immediately sprang upwards and ran towards the bathroom. Amy rolled her eyes and chuckled, suspecting that Sheldon was on his way to the shower. She looked down at herself. In fact, that might be a good idea. It was her understanding that, depending on the length of labor, it may be awhile before her next shower, and, as her contractions had yet to begin, perhaps she had some time.

Just as she was coming to this conclusion, Sheldon returned, shouting, "Don't move a muscle!"

Amy blinked in shock, wondering what he was yelling about. "Why not?"

He rushed over with a bucket and mop in hand, apparently intent on cleaning up first, but as he was about half way to Amy, he gasped, pulling out his phone. "We have to call Leonard and Penny! They have to come get us!" His head snapped up, and he seemed to be talking to no one. "But what if they are too far away? Perhaps an ambulance is the way to go."

"Sheldon-" Amy began.

Sheldon held up a hand. "Amy, please. This is an emergency, therefore we need an emergency vehicle."

"Sheldon, we don't need an ambulance. This isn't an emergency" Amy started to take a step towards him, when Sheldon yelled, "No don't move!" and then frowned at his phone, apparently realizing there was someone on the other end. He yelled, "Yes! Hello! I need an ambulance!" and began pacing, mop in hand.

Amy watched Sheldon as he removed the phone from his ear, frowned at it, and then put it back. "What do you mean why? My wife is in labor!"

"Sheldon," Amy tried again, starting to walk again.

"AMY STOP!" Sheldon yelled, sounding panicked.

"Why?" Amy looked around her.

"You could slip in the puddle and then fall on your stomach and then irreparable damage could be done to both the baby and yourself!" Sheldon replied, eyes bugging out of his head.

Amy rolled her eyes, waddling around the puddle as Sheldon gasped, and grabbed the phone. "I'm very sorry," she said into the phone. "My husband has over-reacted."

"Is everything alright, ma'am?" asked the emergency responder on the other line.

Sheldon attempted to grab the phone from Amy, but she swatted his hand away. "Yes, I'm very sorry that my husband called. It is our first child and it would appear that he has decided to fulfill the anxious father cliché. Thank you. That will be all."

Amy hung up the phone and Sheldon sighed. "Amy! This is an emergency!"

Amy smiled at Sheldon and then replied, "Then perhaps you should continue cleaning the floor while I give Penny a call."

Sheldon looked worried. "But what if they're not here in time?"

"They will be."

"How do you know?" he asked.

Amy began punching in the numbers to Penny's cell phone. "Because my contractions haven't even started yet, and you know as well as I do that labor typically lasts for a minimum of eight hours. In fact, I was hoping to get a last shower in prior to going to the hospital. The time it takes Penny to get here will afford me just enough time to do so."

Sheldon sighed. "But Amy-"

Amy put the phone up to her ear, and smiled again. "It'll be fine."

"Hey, Ames!" Penny said brightly on the other end of the phone. "What's up?"

"My water broke and I need you to come take Sheldon and me to the hospital."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Penny yelled, proceeding to squeal so loudly that Amy was forced to hold the phone several inches away from her ear or risk hearing loss. Before Amy could respond that she _was_ serious, Penny yelled, "I'LL BE THERE IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!" and then hung up the phone.

Amy smiled at Penny's enthusiasm and then waddled over to set the phone down.

"Sheldon, I'm going to take a show-" Amy gasped and bent over, placing a hand on the chair as she felt a sudden and painful constricting. This was not like the contractions she had been having for the past few months. Those had been mildly discomforting. This felt more like her body was going to implode on itself while simultaneously bursting into flames.

Amy heard the smack of the mop handle hitting the floor as Sheldon rushed over.

"What is it?" He asked frantically. "Something is going wrong isn't it?" He rushed for the phone. "I knew we needed an ambulance!"

Amy tried opening her mouth, but the pain intensified so all she was able to get out was a weak, "No…"

Sheldon looked over at her in concern, before suddenly straightening up and blinking at her. "Are you experiencing a contraction?" he asked.

Amy nodded, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, as the pain started to decrease.

Sheldon ran over to his desk, grabbed something off of it, and ran back over to her. "Let me know when the pain is gone," he said, holding up a stopwatch.

Amy nodded and then gasped.

"What?" Sheldon asked, again frantic.

Amy grabbed his arm. "Go get the camera."

Sheldon relaxed and then gave Amy a look. "Amy, I hardly think this is the time-"

"Start the stop watch!" Amy interrupted. Sheldon immediately clicked the button.

Amy took a deep breath and then started walking. "Never mind. I'll go get it myself." Amy waddled over to the bag that she had had packed for the past two weeks, and grabbed out the video camera.

As she waddled back over to Sheldon and handed it to him, Sheldon said, "Amy, I really don't think there will be time for this."

Amy shook her head. "Nonsense. This is my first real contraction, my water just broke, and I'm well on my way to giving birth to this child. This moment must be documented."

Sheldon sighed. "When you're right, you're right." He put the stopwatch in his pocket, turned the camera on Amy, and then pointed at her to start.

Amy smiled and placed both hands on her protruding stomach. "Hello dear child. I have some happy news. Today will be the day of your birth. I have officially gone into labor. My water has broken and I have experience my first contraction, which I must admit was the most painful feeling I've ever experienced." Amy raised her eyebrows to emphasize her next point. "Therefore, I must insist that you come sooner rather than later."

Sheldon swung the camera around to face him. "But not before we have gotten to the hospital. I insist, and as you have thus far proven to be a disobedient child, I suggest you consider remedying my opinion of you by obeying this order."

Amy rolled her eyes, reaching out to turn the camera back on herself. "Sheldon." Amy smiled at the camera again. "I believe that is all for now. Your Aunt Penny is currently en route to pick us up and I need to take a shower while the opportunity still exists."

Sheldon put down the camera and Amy began waddling towards the bathroom.

"Amy," Sheldon started, "are you sure it's wise to be taking a shower at this juncture. What if a contraction hits you in the middle of said shower and the pain causes you to bend over which causes water to drip directly into your ear thus causing you an ear infection. Or worse, you could bend over and then slip and hurt yourself and the doctors would then have to do an emergency Cesarean Section and you could get an infection and die." Sheldon stopped for a breath. "No. I must insist you stay away from the deathtrap in our bathroom."

Amy blinked, not fazed by her husband's meltdown. It was to be expected, of course. "Sheldon, I'm not going to slip in the shower." She continued waddling down the hall, now highly anticipating the shower which would rid her of amniotic fluid-covered clothes.

She was only halfway there, however, when she gasped again and yelled, "Stopwatch!" Sheldon immediately dove his hand into his pocket to extract the stopwatch and stop it.

"Hmm…only five minutes and twenty-three minutes since your first one."

Amy nodded, focusing most of her energy on trying not to shout out the curse words that Sheldon hates so much.

"Doesn't that seem a little fast to you?"

The only response that Amy could manage at that point was to look up at Sheldon.

"Are you sure that this is only your second contraction? All of the literature I read indicated that typically contractions can start at nearly twenty minutes apart and usually prior to a woman's water breaking."

"Yes," Amy gasped out as the pain again began to subside. "I'm quite sure this is only the second one."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Sheldon replied, frowning in confusion.

When Amy could properly breathe again, she responded, first with "Stopwatch," which Sheldon immediately clicked, and then with "Sheldon, whether or not it makes sense is irrelevant. The facts are that my water broke prior to the start of my contractions and that I completed my second contraction just moments ago."

Sheldon frowned. "I don't like this. Nothing is happening in the manner in which it should."

Amy patted Sheldon's arm. "It rarely does." She blinked as a thought occurred to her. "Perhaps we should bring a second stopwatch."

Sheldon looked at her in confusion. "Why?"

"So that we can record the length of each contraction. Aside from coming closer than average, I believe that the length of the contractions are also longer than is usual for this stage."

Sheldon frowned. "I'd say that they lasted approximately twenty or so seconds, which would be normal."

Amy scoffed. "They were both a minute at least."

Sheldon blinked in surprise. "I'm quite sure that they weren't."

"Thus, it would be useful to monitor with a second stopwatch. The last thing we need is a debate on the length of time for each contraction."

Sheldon nodded thoughtfully. "You're absolutely right. Where do we keep our spare stopwatch?"

"I have one in the top drawer of my desk. I was using it to measure the amount of time it takes for my computer to start."

Sheldon walked to Amy's desk to pull out the stopwatch and put it in his other pocket.

"Perhaps you should label them appropriately so that you don't get them mixed up," Amy suggested.

Sheldon nodded. "Smart thinking." He walked over to the label maker to create labels for each stopwatch.

Amy, meanwhile, started back towards the bathroom, determined to shower. At this rate she had only about five minutes before Penny arrived. She made it into the bathroom with her change of clothes when she felt another contraction coming on and yelled "STOPWATCH!"

A moment later, Amy heard Sheldon knock three times. "Come in," she responded.

"Are you decent?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Sheldon, we're married and I'm about to have your baby. What difference does it make?"

"Just because we are married does not mean that we should throw common courtesy to the wind," Sheldon replied through the door.

By this point the contraction had intensified to the point that all Amy could manage was "Yes."

Sheldon opened the door, coming in with a stopwatch in each hand. He looked at her and then said "Don't forget to breathe."

Amy nodded and tried taking a breath. It did nothing to quell the pain, but it did help restore some oxygen to her brain. She took another breath. And then another. After several moments, she straightened up and said, "Stopwatch."

Sheldon clicked with both hands and looked at the stopwatch now labeled "contractions".

"Twenty-one seconds."

Amy's mouth fell open. "That's it? I thought for certain it was going to be at least forty-five seconds." She slumped her shoulders and started removing her clothing. Sheldon gasped and immediately left the bathroom. Amy merely snorted in amusement.

When she stepped under the hot spray, she sighed in relief. The hot water seemed to help ease some tension in her shoulders. She began immediately washing her hair and body. She was about to rinse the shampoo from her hair when another contraction hit. She yelled "STOPWATCH!" and then placed one hand on the wall and another under her stomach. She started counting "one, one thousand. Two, one thousand," to give her something to do, rather than simply focus on the pain. When the pain subsided she yelled "stopwatch" again and then heard a knock on the door.

"Ames?"

It was Penny.

Amy put her head underneath the spray to continue washing all the soap away and responded with "yes?"

"Are you ok? Do you need any help?"

"Why would I need help in the shower?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. I just thought you might be scared or something."

Amy turned off the water. "Penny, please. While I appreciate your caring nature, women have been having children for millennia. I think I can manage a simple shower – AAH!" As she was stepping out of the shower, her foot slipped. Amy grabbed the shower curtain stop herself from falling, thankful that Sheldon had insisted on the metal shower hooks rather than the plastic.

"AMY!" Penny burst through the door. "Are you alright?" Then seeing Amy's compromised state Penny turned around. "Oh, god! Sorry!"

Sheldon was not far behind her. "Amy! I told you it wasn't safe." He stopped when he saw Amy and then exclaimed, "My shower curtain!"

Amy looked up to see that the shower curtain had indeed been ripped. "I'm sorry, Sheldon."

"SHELDON!" Penny yelled. "For Pete's sake, go over there and help the woman!"

Sheldon gasped. "Of course!" He ran over and gave Amy his arm so that she could stand upright. After doing so, she righted the towel around herself. "Thank you, Sheldon. Penny. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get dressed."

Sheldon looked at Penny pointedly. "You heard the woman. Leave."

As Penny walked out, Amy looked at Sheldon in surprise. "Are you saying you're staying?"

Sheldon frowned. "Yes. I'm taking no more chances that you'll hurt yourself."

Amy smiled and waggled her eyebrows. "So you'll watch me get dressed?"

Sheldon nodded. "In a manner of speaking." He let go of her and walked to the closed door, facing away from her.

Amy chuckled. "Really, Sheldon, your conservative nature is bordering on straight prude. Need I remind you again that we're married?"

Sheldon crossed his arms. "No you do not. And I repeat that there is such a thing as common courtesy."

Amy pulled her dress over her head. "Very well, then. I am decent."

Sheldon turned back around and held out his arm for Amy to grab. "I don't want you to trip on the way out the door…And now that you're safely out of the bathroom, I would like to add, 'I told you so.'"

Amy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Let's just go to the hospital."

* * *

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Amy begged. She grabbed Sheldon's arm. "Give me the drugs. I want an epidural!" It had been nearly fourteen hours since her labor started and Amy was spent.

Sheldon, looking haggard, two stop watches around his neck, the video camera in one hand, and a glass of ice chips in the other, turned to the doctor with frantic eyes. "We want the epidural!"

Dr. Billings smiled at the both of them, taking off the gloves she had used to examine Amy with. "Amy, you and Sheldon indicated that you wished to have an unmedicated birth."

Sheldon looked at Amy. "She's right. We did say that. We did the research and came to the conclusion that unmedicated was in the best interest of the baby and yourself."

Amy shook her head. "I've changed my mind. I want to be medicated. In fact, just go ahead and call in the anesthesiologist and have them knock me out entirely until this whole ordeal is over."

Dr. Billings smiled and patted Amy's arm. "I'm afraid the time for medication is past us."

Amy's heart sank. "What do you mean, past us?" Just then another contraction hit her. They were coming so fast now that Amy had almost no time in between and were so intense that just about the only thing she could do was yell, "I WANT TO BE MEDICATED!"

Sheldon threw the ice chips and camera onto Amy's bed and grabbed Dr. Billings by the arms. "You can't leave me like this! Give her the medicine! There has to be something you can do!"

Dr. Billings quietly extracted Sheldon's hands from her arms. "I'm afraid it's too late for that. She's dilated at nine centimeters already. It will soon be time to push. There's simply not enough time for an epidural."

Amy pointed at the door. "GET OUT! What good is a doctor if they can't even give you drugs when you need them?"

"Amy-" Sheldon started.

Amy looked at Sheldon as Dr. Billings left the room chuckling, and tried to speak rationally. "Get Penny in here."

Sheldon started to protest. "But we both agreed that it would just be the two of us in here."

Amy closed her eyes and shook her head. "I want Penny in here."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have your mother? Or perhaps my mother? I read that many women like to have their mother's present-"

"Sheldon!" Amy grit her teeth as yet another contraction hit, right on the heels of the last one, "GET. PENNY."

Amy didn't hear Sheldon say anything, but she heard the door open and close. She tried breathing again, but only became frustrated when it did nothing to ease the pain. When she was over the worst of the contraction, she opened her eyes. The door opened and Penny and Sheldon both came back in.

"Hey, Sweetie," Penny walked over and picked up the now melting ice chips. "Sheldon said you wanted to see me."

Amy started crying. "Penny, they won't give me an epidural."

Penny paused, glancing at Sheldon, whose eyes were saucer-sized. "I thought you didn't want an epidural, Sweetie." She handed Amy an ice chip, which she promptly stuck in her mouth.

"I didn't. But I do now."

"The doctor said it was too late," Sheldon said.

Amy grabbed Penny's arm and pulled her close. "Penny, you _have_ to get the doctor's to give me drugs. Go Nebraska on their asses."

"Amy! Language!" Sheldon said.

Both Amy and Penny turned around to glare at Sheldon.

Penny turned back. "Sweetie, I know it hurts, but if it's too late for drugs then that means that the baby's almost here. It's almost over. You just have to hang in there for a little bit longer."

Amy shook her head, sniffing. "I don't think I can do it."

Penny looked pointedly at Sheldon. "Sheldon…perhaps you'd like to comfort your wife."

Sheldon didn't move. "I've tried several times, but apparently I am to blame for her current state and can kindly go to H, E, double hockey sticks."

Penny gave Sheldon a look. "Tell her she can do this."

Sheldon looked at Amy. "You can do this."

Penny stood up and walked over to Sheldon. "For god's sake, Sheldon, be encouraging."

Amy watched the scene through a haze of pain and tears. Sheldon swallowed and his voice broke. "It's been fourteen hours, Penny."

Penny took a deep breath and then let it out. "That's right. It's been long. But just think of what this is like for Amy. You're not the one in pain. This is so much worse for her than for you, and you need to be there for her."

"I've tried."

"Try harder." Amy squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe. Somehow, listening to Penny and Sheldon helped keep her mind off the pain a bit. It somehow made it a little more manageable. Not much. But a bit.

"Look at her, Sheldon. Forget that it's been fourteen hours. Just focus on her. Come on. You excel at everything right?...Right?"

After a few moments Sheldon responded, "Right." His voice sounded stronger than it had a moment before.

Amy felt a hand grab hers.

"Amy?" Sheldon's voice was close, startling her a bit. "Open your eyes."

Amy swallowed and then opened them. Sheldon hand knelt down and was in front of her face. He glanced back at Penny, who shooed her hands at him. He looked back at Amy and swallowed. "You…" he cleared his throat. "You can do this."

Amy swallowed, the pain temporarily abated. "But what if I can't?"

Sheldon looked back at Penny, who again shooed him. "Keep going," she said.

Sheldon looked back, thinking for a moment. "Tell me what is going on right now."

Amy blinked for a moment. "I'm in labor."

"Yes, but what is going on right now, physiologically."

Amy stared for a moment. "You know the answer to that."

"But Penny doesn't," he responded.

Penny nodded. "Yeah, Sweetie. I don't know."

Amy looked away from Sheldon for a moment. "But you've already had a baby."

"Well, yeah, but I don't know all the sciencey mumbo jumbo."

Amy looked back at Sheldon.

"Well?" He asked.

Amy swallowed. "My..." she took a breath as another contraction started.

"Your what, Sweetie?" Penny asked.

"My cervix has completely incorporated itself into the lower portion of my uterus."

Sheldon nodded. "Right. And Dr. Billings said you were nine centimeters dilated. What does that mean?"

Amy started breathing shallowly and closed her eyes as the pain began overwhelming her again.

Sheldon reached out and lightly shook her shoulder. "Amy. Open your eyes."

Amy shook her head.

"Come on, Sweetie, open your eyes," Penny called out.

Amy opened her eyes and looked at Sheldon. He nodded. "What does it mean to be dilated nine centimeters?"

Amy tried to think past the pain, looking into Sheldon's eyes. "My cervix has retracted to allow the baby to pass through."

"And what causes your cervix to retract?"

Amy swallowed and took a deep breath. "The contractions."

Sheldon nodded, sounding more confident himself with each passing question. "And what happens to the baby during this time?"

Amy breathed several times before answering. "The baby descends in preparation for birth."

"What happens when your cervix is dilated ten centimeters?"

Amy sniffed again and swallowed. "Typically that indicates that the infant is ready to be born and the mother will begin pushing."

A nurse entered the room at that moment. "And how are you doing Amy?"

Amy kept her eyes on Sheldon. "I'm doing ok."

She heard the nurse chuckle. "No more demands for an epidural?" Amy shook her head, then scrunched her face in pain as yet another contraction hit. There was no relief in between contractions any longer. "I'm just going to give you a quick check here. Dr. Billings thinks you might be progressing faster now."

Amy looked away from Sheldon at Penny. "Can I have another ice chip?"

Penny nodded and immediately handed Amy the cup. As Amy sucked on the chip the nurse looked up smiling.

"Guess what, Amy?"

Amy frowned in confusion. Was something wrong? "What?"

"It looks like you're ten centimeters. I'm going to go call Dr. Billings. It looks like it's time for you to push."

**A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'm going out of town for the holidays and my only internet will be on my phone. But since I won't have the internet to distract me I have little doubt I'll finish the next chapter while I'm away. So the next chapter will be up after the new year. Also, I did a lot of research on contractions and labor, having never been through it myself, and I've come to 1 conclusion: no two people experience the same thing. Even contraction descriptions were different. Crazy. Anyway, Thanks again! And remember that Reviews are much appreciated. After all, I don't know what you think if you don't tell me. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and for your patience! You guys are the best. :)**

**Sheldon**

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH HHHH!" Sheldon yelled. He had never been in so much pain in his life.

"What the hell, Sheldon?" Penny asked, turning the video camera away from Amy and towards Sheldon. He whimpered as Dr. Billings said, "Alright Amy, let's have another push." As Amy began pushing, she once again squeezed Sheldon's hand so hard that he was certain the bones breaking.

At least he was already at the hospital.

Sheldon glared at the camera, already ruing his agreeing to let Penny stay and video the birth. He looked at Amy, whose face was currently scrunched, red, and sweating. It had been her idea, of course. As soon as the nurse had said she was ready to push, Amy had requested that Penny stay so that Sheldon would have both hands free to help her through the pushing process. So far, however, the only way in which Sheldon had been able to help was to lend his hands to Amy for her use in crushing.

Penny lifted her head from the camera and shooed her hand at him for the umpteenth time. "Encourage her, Sheldon."

Amy stopped pushing at that moment, having been given a momentary reprieve by the doctor, and leaned back, eyes closed and breathing heavily. This entire ordeal was wearing Sheldon out. He hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours and Amy had demanded his presence every moment from the time they had arrived at the hospital. Naturally he had expected the labor and delivery process to be arduous, but he had expected it to begin after waking from a good night's rest, not after one of the longest days, and evenings, of his life. He scowled to himself. This was just another show of blatant disrespect by his and Amy's prodigy.

Sheldon sighed, trying to ignore the pain in his hands, reached over to grab a wet wash cloth, and began wiping Amy's sweaty face. He had requested the cloth after Amy had buried her sweaty face in his shirt earlier. He had been about to protest, but had noticed a look from Penny, and had therefore simply requested the washcloth with which he could wipe her face clean.

As Sheldon wiped the cloth down the side of her face, Amy turned her head towards him and opened her eyes. Though he was still not adept at reading facial expressions, even he could see the pain mirrored there. Amy's eyebrows were knit together, her eyes glassy, mostly likely from being awake all night, and filled with tears. Sheldon hated the look, and wished he could make it go away.

He swallowed. "I'm sorry, Amy." The apology sounded inadequate, given the amount of pain she was in, but it was all he could think to say at the moment.

Amy shook her head ever so slightly.

Sheldon was just about to ask what her headshake meant when the doctor said, "Ok, Amy, start pushing."

Amy reached her other hand over to grab Sheldon's other hand, pulling both sets of hands close to her chest, and began pushing again, eyes closed, screaming, and crushing both of Sheldon's hands.

Penny, keeping the camera trained on Amy, said, "Come on, Amy, you can do it!" Then she raised her head and gave Sheldon a look. "Sheldon…"

Sheldon looked at Amy's scrunched face, trying to gather the emotional energy he needed to be there for her. "Keep pushing, Amy," he said, feeling very unsure of himself and his ability to help Amy during this time. In response, Amy pulled his hands closer to her face, leaning her forehead against them.

"Sheldon," one of the nurses said. He looked over at her. "Why don't you help push Amy up into a sitting position?"

Sheldon nodded, happy for something tangible and useful to do, and extracted his right hand, putting it behind Amy to push her forward.

"Alright, Amy," Dr. Billings said. "I can see the baby's head. You're almost done. I want you to give it all you've got this next time."

Amy, forehead still resting on Sheldon's hands, nodded slightly. Sheldon extracted a hand and gave Amy a slight pat on the shoulder. Not knowing what else to do, he turned his head so that his mouth was by Amy's ear, deciding to give the scientific approach to encouragement another shot. "Amy, what's the point of pushing?"

Amy turned her head slightly so that he could see her eyes. "To help the body's contractions expel the infant."

Sheldon nodded, and then leaned closer. "In that case, the current course of action that I suggest is for you to gather what remaining strength you have, and concentrate it in the lower region of your body so that this entire ordeal may be completed and you no longer have to be in pain."

Amy blinked at Sheldon for a moment. Then she nodded ever so slightly, took a deep breath, exhaled, and turned her head back towards the front. When the doctor said, "Alright Amy," she took a deep breath and then started pushing. Her face got all red again and she screamed.

"The baby's head is out!" said Dr. Billings. "Keep pushing!"

"Keep going, Amy!" Penny shouted.

"You can do it, Amy!" the nurses were shouting.

Sheldon put his forehead against the side of Amy's head and spoke quietly in her ear, "It's almost over, Amy. The baby is almost out and we'll finally be able to look him or her properly in the face and tell him or her that he or she inherited his or her stubborn streak from his or her mother."

Out of nowhere Amy chuckled, Sheldon wasn't sure at what, before she took another big breath, pulling his hand, wrapped in both of hers, back up to her forehead and continuing to push.

"The shoulders are out!" shouted the doctor. "Just one more good push!"

Sheldon swallowed, thankful that this exhausting situation was almost over and that Amy would shortly be out of pain. "You can do it, Amy," he said, eager for it all to be over. "Dr. Billings said one more push."

Amy nodded against his hands, took another big breath, and pushed.

And not three seconds later, she suddenly leaned back, opening her eyes as Sheldon heard a tiny cry. Before he had time to process the sound, a very messy, wet infant was placed on Amy's stomach…a little roughly in Sheldon's opinion.

"Congratulations!" Dr. Billings said. "A healthy baby boy!"

Sheldon looked from Amy, who had let go of his hands in favor of wrapping her arms around the messy ball of screaming infant, to his son, and then back to Amy.

He had a son. He blinked, completely uncertain of his emotions. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he watched the infant open his tiny eyes ever so slightly and look directly at Amy's face, which was now only a couple of inches away. She ran her finger down the side of his face, her other hand grabbing hold of the tiny hand and bringing it up to her lips to kiss.

He was so small. Sheldon frowned, getting worried. What if he was too small? Surely he wasn't over five pounds. Nothing that small could be over five pounds.

"Well, dad, what do you have to say?" Penny asked, smiling at him through the video camera.

Sheldon blinked at the camera, but could think of nothing more to say, other than, "I have a son."

Amy seemed to remember that he was there at that moment, as she looked over at him and smiled. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or perhaps it was the endorphin rush he was most assuredly feeling at having this ordeal finally end, but Sheldon could not remember a time when Amy had looked as pretty as she did now…which was a little bit ridiculous considering her face was red, with tears streaming down it, and her hair matted on one side. Sheldon cocked his head. But no, she was most definitely as pretty as he had ever seen her.

"We have a son, Sheldon." She looked back at their baby. "A baby boy."

The only acknowledgement that Sheldon could manage at the moment was to nod, which Amy couldn't see as she was entirely focused on their son, running fingers down his cheeks, through his wet hair, of which there was a shocking amount, tapping his nose, kissing his tiny fingers. Sheldon had never seen Amy act this way before. She had been excited to hold Julia when she had been born, but had only held her for a few minutes before passing her back to Penny; and she had most certainly not spent her time making noises which Sheldon could only describe as cooing.

He felt a strange expanding in his chest, causing him to inhale, and before he knew what was happening, he was smiling. And he couldn't stop. He smiled at Penny and the camera. He smiled at the nurse as she brought over a towel and began wiping down his son. He smiled at his son and Amy.

After the nurse finished the rudimentary cleaning, she gently wrapped their son in a blanket, laying him back on Amy's chest. Amy looked up at Sheldon.

"Would you like to hold him?"

The smile faded from his face. Hold his son? What if he dropped him? What if he held him wrong and he accidentally broke his tiny arm? His son's appendages were far too tiny and fragile to be held by Sheldon. His shook his head, his eyes widening.

Amy raised a hand to Sheldon's arm and smiled. "It's alright. You're not going to drop him."

Sheldon looked from the infant to Amy. "How do you know I'm not?"

"Because you're far too brilliant for that."

Sheldon swallowed, still unsure. Amy pulled him down, saying, "Just put your arms together and I'll put him in." Sheldon put his arms together like he had seen on television and Amy gently placed their son in the crook of his arm.

Sheldon very slowly stood up, careful not to move his arms.

"Hug him to your chest," Penny suggested. "And move your bottom arm so that you're supporting him from underneath."

Sheldon made the necessary adjustments, feeling a bit better when his son felt more secure in his arms. He stared down, processing every visible feature, and not quite able to reconcile in his mind that the infant in his arms was the tangible product of his proposal over nine months prior.

As Sheldon marveled at this, his son opened his eyes and looked up at him. Sheldon swallowed as the feeling in his chest swelled again. "Hello," he said, "I am your father, Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper." The infant merely blinked. Sheldon supposed he would have done the same if he had learned his father was a world renowned physicist. His son closed his eyes. Sheldon looked over at Amy, to find her watching him with a smile on her face.

Sheldon then remembered something he had read. "What time is it? How long has it been since birth?"

"About ten minutes," Penny said.

Sheldon blinked in surprise. "That's all?" It seemed like much more time had passed. He cleared his throat, leaning down slowly to pass Amy back the infant. "You have to nurse him immediately. The literature all said that the first feeding must take place within the first sixty minutes."

A nurse walked over to assist Amy. As she walked up, she smiled at Sheldon and Amy and asked, "So what's his name?"

Sheldon and Amy looked at each other.

* * *

"Let's have another baby," Penny said, staring down at the infant in her arms.

Leonard choked. "I beg your pardon?" His voice cracked in the middle. "Don't you think it's a little soon for that?"

Penny leaned her face down and made cooing noises. Then her voice took on an extremely annoying high pitch quality as she said, "You want a little buddy to play with don't you. Tell Uncle Leonard that you want a friend to play with."

Howard walked over and clapped Leonard on the shoulder. "Yeah, Leonard. Julia's over two now. What's say you two crank out another kid?"

Leonard glared at Howard. "Yeah, why don't we wait until Bernadette has your baby and see what you say when you haven't slept in thirty-six hours and you fall asleep in the middle of the presentation that you are _giving_."

Penny's head snapped up. "Are you saying you don't want to have any more kids?"

Leonard laughed nervously. "No, no. Of course not." He suddenly held out his arms. "Why don't you let me hold him?"

Penny narrowed her eyes but eventually handed Leonard the baby.

"Soooo," Raj said, turning to Sheldon and Amy expectantly.

Sheldon blinked at Raj in confusion. "So, what?"

Raj rolled his eyes. "So what is his name?"

"Ah," Sheldon said, now comprehending. "Stephen Leonard Cooper."

"Oh, that's nice!" Raj said. "You named him after Leonard?"

Sheldon said "no" at the same time that Amy said "yes."

Amy frowned and looked at Sheldon. "What do you mean no? You were the one who suggested it."

Sheldon nodded. "Right. After Leonard Nimoy."

Penny rolled her eyes, and Sheldon frowned at her.

"Sheldon," Amy said, raising her eyebrows. "I already agreed to name our son after a physicist. I will not also name him after an actor."

"But the actor played Spock!" Sheldon protested.

Amy narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. Sheldon, knowing the look, having seen it many times, sighed in defeat. "Fine." He crossed his arms. "We can name him after Leonard."

"Gee…" Leonard said. "I'm so touched."

Amy looked at Leonard. "If you don't appreciate the gesture I'm sure we can find another middle name which is more suitable to the name Stephen. Perhaps a one syllable name, like Lee."

"No, no," Leonard said hastily, "I'm extremely honored."

Raj and Rani, meanwhile, had been having a whispered argument. Sheldon gave it little attention until Raj spoke a little louder to Rani and said, "Oh come on. Can't we please just tell them?"

"Tell us what?" asked Bernadette.

Rani sighed and then nodded at Raj. Just as he was about to speak, however, she held up her index finger. "I would like to go on record as saying I did not want to share this information tonight." She looked at Amy. "I didn't want to overtake your momentous day with any other news."

Amy raised her eyebrows. "What news could possibly overtake this glorious day?"

Raj reached over to grab Rani's hand, smiling at her. "Well…" He looked back at the rest of the gang. "We're engaged!"

Penny and Bernadette squealed and Howard ran over quickly to hug his best friend.

"Congratulations!" Amy said from her bed. Leonard, still having Stephen in his arms, smiled and also gave his congratulations.

Sheldon frowned, confused. "Why on earth would the news of Raj's engagement be in any way more important that the birth of our child?"

Amy leaned over. "It's not, but let's go ahead and let them have this one."

After all of the women had taken a moment to stare that the ring on Rani's finger, Stephen began to cry. Amy immediately reached out her hands to take him back, and as soon as he was in her arms, she seemed to forget that anyone else was around.

"I think it's time we all go," Penny said, smiling at Amy.

The others nodded and began making their way to the door, when Raj suddenly stopped and turned back. "Hey! I just realized the date."

Sheldon blinked back at Raj in total confusion. To be honest, Sheldon wasn't entirely sure what day of the week it was, let alone the date.

"It's May twenty-fourth," he said smiling. The other's looked confused now, but Sheldon and Amy looked at each other with eyebrows raised. Amy was the first to overcome her shock and smile at Sheldon. He smiled back.

"I don't get it," Penny said. "What's so special about May twenty-fourth?"

Amy, still smiling, looked over and said, "That's the day that Sheldon and I first met, seven years ago."

The group all reacted with various "wow"s and "cool"s and then waved and continued out the door.

Sheldon watched as Amy tried to nurse their whimpering son, relishing the social reprieve before his and Amy's relatives descended upon them, and contemplating the fact that their son had been born on such a significant date. As he watched his wife and child, he again felt the swelling in his chest, causing his smile to return. While he most certainly did not believe in fate or any other such nonsense, he couldn't help but wonder at the fact that two very life altering events had transpired on the same date.

When his son finally succeeded in his goal of proper suckling, Amy lifted her head to look at Sheldon, tears in her eyes.

Sheldon sat up immediately, his smile fading. "What is it? Are you in pain? Should I call the nurse?"

Amy laughed lightly and shook her head, sniffing. "No. Nothing's wrong."

Sheldon blinked, confused. "Then why are you crying?"

Amy smiled. "I'm just very happy."

Sheldon relaxed back into his chair. "Oh."

He looked back at Amy, who was still smiling at him, and found himself smiling back. He looked from her to their son and back. "Me too."

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: And that concludes my Shamy-series! All the gaps in between the Relationship Evolution and it's epilogue have been filled. It's been a blast writing for you. Thank you so much for reading and for those that have reviewed. You are a fantastic audience. :)**


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